A West Virginia University professor has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Grant to teach economics in Bahrain.

Tesfa G. Gebremedhin will be a visiting lecturer at the University of Bahrain during the spring semester.

He received the award from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Fulbright award recipients are selected based on academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. Gebremedhin is one of about 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright Scholar Program in 2009.

Gebremedhin is a professor of agricultural and resource economics in the Division of Resource Management at WVU s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences. He is also a faculty teaching associate with WVU s Center for Black Culture and Research and a faculty research associate with the Center for Womens Studies and Regional Research Institute.

In higher education nowadays, we need to prepare our students to go out into a global marketplace and to be able to work with people who are culturally different from themselves,Gebremedhin said.It is my professional desire to introduce and create a classroom environment where there is a mix of thought, perspectives, broad-based experience, indigenous knowledge and wisdom.

Gebremedhin describes the University of Bahrain asa good University striving to provide a modern learning environment that promotes positive thinking and high-quality academic training and intellectual development.

Its interesting that Bahrains development as a major financial center has been the most widely heralded aspect of its diversification effort in other sectors through its diversified human resources,he added.

Gebremedhins research focuses on rural and community development, regional growth and development, economic development and policy analysis, and international agricultural development. He is the author of several books, includingBeyond Survival: The Economic Challenges of Agriculture and Development in Post-Independence Eritrea,Women, Tradition and Development: A Case Study in EritreaandLeadership Challenges for Effective Management.He has also written a number of book chapters, journal articles and other scholarly works.

The Fulbright Program, Americas flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The programs purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. The Fulbright Program operates in more than 150 countries worldwide.