Dr. Michael S. Jones, a current Fulbright scholar at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, was recently invited to address the researchers of the Francisc J. Rainer Anthropology Institute of the Romanian Academy (http://www.antropologia.ro/). The Romanian academy is considered by many to be the leading academic research institution in Romania. The Francisc J. Rainer Anthropology Institute was founded in 1939, and in addition to its wide range of research projects it is home to the largest osteological collection in Eastern Europe. Dr. Jones spoke on the subject of “Expert Peer Disagreement” in application to religion and academia.

Last month, U.S. Fulbright Grantee Carla Baricz won the “Postgraduate Romanian Student of Year Award,” in the North America category. Liga Studenților Români din Străinătate (LSRS) awarded her the prize for her achievements during the 2013-2014 academic year, when Carla was completing her fourth year of doctoral studies at Yale University. In the meantime, as part of her Fulbright research project, Carla is continuing to translate Ion Budai-Deleanu’s epic, the Tiganiada, into English. She has also just finished putting together an essay on Lena Constante’s prison journals, a piece that will be published this year by Punctum Books, as part of a collection on literature under terror being put together by Irina Dumitrescu. Carla has also recently translated a selection of Carmen Firan’s and Dan Sociu’s poems, translations that are forthcoming in National Translation Month. Her recent translation of a section of Constantin Severin’s long poem, “Wall and Neutrino,” appeared in the November 2014 issue of World Literature Today. She continues to review for Words Without Borders, a magazine dedicated to international literature in translation, and is now preparing for her upcoming presentations in March: a talk on Ion Budai Deleanu at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, and a conference presentation at the 2015 Renaissance Society of America meeting in Berlin.

Dr. Michael S. Jones, associate professor of philosophy and theology at Liberty University, spent the fall semester teaching at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest thanks to a Fulbright grant. He taught a course on Philosophy of Religion. He and his students read David Hume’s classic text Dialogues on Natural Religion and excerpts from an anthology of classical and contemporary texts that explore subjects such as the relationship of faith and reason, arguments for the existence of God, and attitudes towards disagreement. Final exams ended this week and Dr. Jones happily reports that his students performed very well! During the spring semester he will teach a course on Religions Issues in Ethics and another on the Romanian philosopher Lucian Blaga.

Romy Solomon, U.S. Fulbright grantee in the field of social work, is currently working with eLiberare, an NGO representing a social movement against human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Romania. They are now launching a youth leadership initiative entitled Freedom Fighters Academy. This project will support Romanian teenagers in learning professional skills and applying them to fight human trafficking in their communities. The program will include a series of 10 training sessions focused on leadership, planning and developing project ideas, fundraising, marketing, communication, time management and much more. The Freedom Fighters Academy starts on February 21 and the registration deadline is February 13. More details at: http://www.eliberare.com/academia