Washington State University
Mushtaq Memon, Fulbright Ambassador
Teaching and conducting research in a traditional society of Oman was a new and rewarding experience for me. During didactic teaching, male students would walk into the class through a front door, whereas the female students came in through a back door. Inside the classroom, the boys sat on one side and the girls sat on the other. My field research projects gave me the opportunity to travel the countryside. I mentored young Omani faculty members for higher education.
One of those, a female instructor, came to WSU and is completed ing her graduate degree during June 2011. She is the first female faculty sent for higher education from her home department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Another graduate student from Oman has is admitted and going to started his graduate program at WSU in Fall 2011.
Upon my return from Fulbright assignment in Oman, I mentored a female veterinarian visiting WSU from Peru who impressed everyone with her hard work. She wanted to come back to WSU as a graduate student, but had no financial support to do so. We discussed the Fulbright Student Scholarship opportunity. She went back to Peru and applied for the scholarship. I helped her prepare her Fulbright application and wrote her a recommendation. She received the scholarship, was able to return to WSU and will complete her M.S. degree in 2012.
She is the first veterinarian from Peru to come to the US for higher education. It gives me tremendous pleasure and satisfaction to make a difference in lives for future generations of the global society thru Fulbright program. There were personal benefits and impacts on my family created thru my Fulbright assignment. My wife and three children accompanied me to Oman. My older son, an undergraduate at UW Jackson School for International Studies, enjoyed his externship in a US-based company in Muscat. The younger son, in ninth grade at Pullman High School (PHS), was reluctant to leave his friends at PHS. But, he enjoyed the American International School, Muscat, so much that he wanted to finish the year at the school in Oman! .
The contacts I made during the Fulbright assignment led to WSU veterinary student externships in Oman. My on-going research and other collaborations have resulted in my multiple follow-up trips to Oman