Stephanie Hanson has received a Fulbright US Scholar Program award for the 2024–2025 academic year from the US Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Hanson, a senior lecturer for the Minnesota English Language Program, will be hosted by the Language Department at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Pérez Zeledón Campus, Brunca Branch from January through June 2025. She describes her project, “Applying Communicative Language Pedagogy in Costa Rican TEFL* Contexts,” this way:
“I’ll be developing and facilitating professional development workshops for Costa Rican teachers of English in the southern region of the country. Topics for my workshops will generally focus on methodology, task-based instruction, communicative language teaching, and action-oriented approaches. The participating teachers will include in-service teachers from universities and public schools, and pre-service teachers (university students who are studying to become English teachers).”
This is the second Fulbright award for Hanson, who was a Fulbright-García Robles TEFL Scholar in Mexico City during the 2019–2020 academic year.
*Teaching English as a Foreign Language
About the Fulbright Program
Fulbright US Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators, and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Notable Fulbrighters include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government, and thousands of leaders across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright US Scholar Program annually. In addition, over 2,000 Fulbright US Student Program participants—recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals—participate in study/research exchanges or as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.
Fulbright is a program of the US Department of State, with funding provided by the US Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.
