Royal Oak resident, Michael Ruddy, a teacher of social studies and history at The Roeper School in Birmingham, Michigan, was recently awarded a summer Fulbright fellowship to West Africa. He will be participating in the Cultural Connections comparative project (between US Midwest and West Africa) focusing on three primary themes: (1) causes and consequences of globalization, (2) encounters between dominant and dominated languages, and (3) adaptations of problem solving strategies to the urban context.

The Cultural Connections project includes a field trip to West Africa (Mali and Senegal) during summer 2010, and one year of group work on curriculum development, and related project web site, public presentations, in-services, and publications. This Fulbright project is co-directed by Drs. W. F. Santiago-Valles and Yvette D. Hyter, of Western Michigan University. Santiago-Valles and Hyter have extensive experience in Mali, Cape Verde, and Senegal.

The twelve participants are required to develop a project proposal based on one of the project themes, demonstrate how that research connects to and would contribute both to curriculum and to their work. Participants will then work for one year after the trip with the rest of the research team to develop, implement, evaluate and disseminate the curriculum project. (These are the requirements that were approved as part of the federally funded grant award.)

Mr. Ruddy has taught and coached at The Roeper School for over thirty years, and is currently chair of the social studies department. He holds a BA in Political Science and a MA in History, both from Oakland University.

Founded in 1941, The Roeper School is a uniquely personalized, coeducational school for gifted and talented children in preschool through grade 12 from over 60 communities in southeast Michigan. With campuses in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, Mich., Roeper was conceived on founding principles that recognize the power of education, choice and self-expression, and the transformative impact these principles have on young minds. For more information, please visit www.roeper.org.

- 30 -