Kristin Wilson is one of two Western Kentucky University faculty awarded grants from the Fulbright Program.

“It’s a game changer for me,” said Wilson, who will use the grant to study college students in South Africa over three years. 

Wilson is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration, Leadership and Research. She’s received a Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant, which gives faculty a choice between teaching, researching or both. 

Kay Gandy, a professor in WKU’s School of Teacher Education, also won a Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad grant to Senegal. She’ll use it to explore religious and cultural diversity in West Africa, and her project will focus on why Senegal has maintained social harmony despite conflict in West Africa, according to a news release. Gandy was unable to comment directly for this story because she is overseas. 

“The lessons I’ll glean from this experience will be shared with the teachers I train,” Gandy said in a news release. “They need to be able to support student diversity and create a learning environment of understanding and empathy. 

Wilson will use the money to do research and cover her living expenses when she’s overseas between January and March each year. She’s studying “massification,” which is an effort in South Africa to expand access to higher education following the downfall of apartheid. 

Wilson recently visited universities in South Africa and is using her connections at the University of Limpopo as a foundation for her research work. 

“The University of Limpopo is home to more than 18,000 students, many of which are first generation students coming from homes where college degree attainment was an impossible dream for their parents,” Wilson said in a news release. 

College students in South Africa face a lack of campus infrastructure, Wilson said. During her trips to the country, she’ll interview students about their integration into college along with poverty issues they may be facing. 

She’ll ask them questions like where they live, do they have housing and are they eating regularly, she said. 

“To go to South Africa and conduct research for six months is incredibly exciting,” she said. 

— Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.