Dr. Charles Fogelman, Teaching Assistant Professor in the LAS Global Studies Program, has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad grant to spend six months conducting qualitative research in Lesotho, from June until December 2023. Dr. Fogelman's project, titled "Developing the Mountain Kingdom's Landscapes: Poverty Alleviation, Land, and Horticulture in Lesotho," will focus on studying the outcomes of a US-financed development project on agricultural production and poverty reduction in the country.

Lesotho, a southern African country with a population of just over two million people, has been a focus of the development industry since before the country won its independence in 1966. Dr. Fogelman's project will examine the legislation and flows of money, workers, and infrastructure that attempt to make fruit production a poverty alleviation tool. He will work with local farmers and organizations to identify the beneficiaries of the $118 million development project.

"I am honored and excited to receive a Fulbright-Hays to do important work in Lesotho, and I'm especially pleased to have the opportunity to work with colleagues, farmers, and friends in Lesotho on this," said Dr. Fogelman. "From a personal perspective, I'm very looking forward to improving my Sesotho language skills over the six months I spend in the country," he added.

The Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad program funds fellowships through institutions of higher education (IHEs) to faculty members who propose to conduct research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies to improve their skill in languages and their knowledge of the culture of the people of these countries. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's International and Foreign Language Education office.