Briane Turley, a research assistant professor of history in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a Fulbright lectureship in Hungary. He will teach American religious history and participate in Hungarian and U.S. collaborative humanities computing projects at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Institute for Philosophical Research, and the University of Szeged during the spring semester of the 2001-2002 academic year.
“I consider it a tremendous privilege to represent WVU and the state of West Virginia in Hungary. Ive always felt it important to somehow repay the state and the university for the marvelous education I received here,”Turley says.
Turley earned his B.A. from WVU in 1981 with a major in music and a minor in history. He went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. in religious history from the University of Virginia.
A native of New Martinsville and now a Reedsville resident, he returned to WVU in 1992 as a visiting assistant professor of religious studies. When he departs in January for Hungary, he will take his wife, Ann, and son, Christopher. Ann, a 1979 WVU music graduate, grew up in McDowell County as a coal miners daughter.
An expert of religion in the American South, Turley is working on his second book, an examination of the history of southern African-American Pentecostalism. His fist book, A Wheel Within a Wheel: Southern Methodism and the Georgia Holiness Association, was published last year by the Mercer University Press. He has published articles in numerous journals and magazines, including the Dictionary of Christianity in America and Wonderful West Virginia Magazine.
In addition to his teaching duties, Turley is managing editor of the online Journal of Southern Religion the first scholarly journal devoted to the study of religion in the American South. He also develops training programs for law enforcement in cyber crime for the National White Collar Crime Center.
Turley believes in the”democratization of education,”how new media capabilities allow his studentsincluding the undergraduatesto become colleagues with the faculty as they collaborate in the design and implementation of new digital projects and publications. For example, his studentsterm papers dont wind up in a file cabinet or closet; they become part of a well-respected Web site that he has created at WVU , ( http://are.as.wvu.edu ).
“Our students play an important role in educating other students and the public in American religious history topics. Hardly passive in-class observers! I am most excited about this aspect of the new media,”Turley says.
Turley has always had an elevated interest in technology. He has been an amateur radio operator for 30 years, and began using personal computers when they became affordable in the early80s.
“The Internet furnishes an unprecedented means for collaboration, not only among religion scholars but between instructors and the students they serve,”he says.”I still use a chalkboard in my on-campus classes, but the chalk dust is beginning to give way to electrons.”
While in Hungary, Turley hopes to bring this idea of using technology to collaborate with colleagues across the ocean on religious issues to the University of Szeged. He will be able to schedule virtual guest lectures by his Hungarian colleagues for his classes at WVU .
“Part of my vision is that we will have our students at WVU actually work with students at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,”he adds.
For a history professor, Turleys interests and activities seem a little frenetic, if not scattered. Turley attributes this to the fact that religion touches on virtually every facet of life.
“Religious studies scholars need to seek ways of cultivating interdisciplinary relationships with their colleagues if they hope to offer their students the very best educational opportunities,”he says.