The role of a Fulbright faculty mentor is to provide advice on the feasibility of your proposed project. Ideally, a mentor has expertise in your academic field and/or host country and is willing meet to review your Statement of Grant Purpose and Personal Statement to provide feedback. Mentor/mentee roles are created informally and are not required to apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program through USC, but are strongly encouraged.
The faculty listed below are willing to be contacted to mentor USC Fulbright applicants. We recommend that you reach out to a mentor once you have a working draft of your statements. Applicants are also welcome to work with mentors not listed here. Other ways to find a mentor include:
USC Experts Directory
Search USC faculty experts by name or topic.
Fulbright Scholar Directory
Search faculty and professionals globally by institution and field who have won a Fulbright grant.
Anthropology
Professor Nancy Lutkehaus | lutkehau@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Globalization, Transpacific cultures, art, material culture, documentary film, cultural heritage, ethnography, qualitative research methods, visual studies
Region of Expertise: Open to all, worked in Europe, Mexico, Peru, Africa, and Oceania (Indonesia, Melanesia, Polynesia)
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Erin Moore | epm@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Law, Gender, Culture, Anthropology
Region of Expertise: India
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Tok Thompson | tokthomp@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Folklore, language revitalization, mythology, cyber culture, posthumanism
Region of Expertise: Ireland, Ethiopia, Native America
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Area Studies
Professor Clayton Dube | cdube@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: China, US-China relations, Taiwan; Chinese history, China media
Region of Expertise: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Ivette Gomez | igomez@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Latin American literature and cultures, with emphasis in Caribbean cultural studies, Cuba history, US-Cuba relations
Region of Expertise: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Art
Professor Amelia Jones | ameliaj@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: art, art history and theory, gender studies/feminism and queer theory, performance studies
Region of Expertise: Pacific region
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Haven Lin-Kirk | linkirk@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: design, art (painting, drawing, printmaking, installations), design theory
Region of Expertise: China, Japan, UK, Croatia, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Alexis Zoto | weidig@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Art (sculpture, installation, printmaking, drawing, fiber), Design (2D & 3D)
Region of Expertise: Balkans, especially Albania and Albanian diaspora
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Biological Sciences
Professor Carly Kenkel | ckenkel@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Marine Environmental Biology
Region of Expertise: Southeast Asia, Australia, other island nations in the Pacific and Indian oceans
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Cinematic Arts
Professor Vicki Callahan | vcallahan@cinema.usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Film history, film theory, media studies, gender studies, digital storytelling
Region of Expertise: France, Ireland, UK
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Laura Isabel Serna | lserna@cinema.usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Cinema and Media Studies, Cultural History
Region of Expertise: Mexico, Latin America
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Communication
Professor Nick Cull | cull@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Media history, Communication aspects of international relations, public diplomacy
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Colleen Keough | keough@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Organizational communication, Conflict management
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Comparative Literature
Professor Natania Meeker | nmeeker@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: French literature and philosophy; eighteenth-century culture and society; ecocritique
Region of Expertise: France, Europe
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Education
Professor Matthew Dame | mdame@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Teacher training, authenticity in language arts, reflective practice
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Alan Green | alangree@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Counseling psychology, Mental Health Education
Region of Expertise: Caribbean, Guyana, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Emmy Min | emmymin@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: English Education, Language Education
Region of Expertise: Korea
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Engineering
Professor Urbashi Mitra | ubli@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Electrical & Computer Engineering, wireless communications, signal processing, information theory
Region of Expertise: United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Michelle Povinelli | povinell@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Engineering and Physical Sciences
Region of Expertise: United Kingdom, Japan
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Environmental Studies
Professor David Ginsburg | dginsbur@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: organization and dynamics of natural communities, fields of physiology, chemistry, ecology, as well as environmental policy and management
Region of Expertise: Open to all coastal areas (but have specific expertise in the Antarctic, Indo-West Pacific and Caribbean)
Mentor for: Study/Research only
French
Professor Julie Van Dam | julie.vandam@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: African literature and film; French literature and film; disability studies; medical humanities and history of medicine; postcolonial studies; colonial studies; decolonial studies; gender studies and feminist theory
Region of Expertise: France, Senegal
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
International Relations
Professor Megan Becker | meganbec@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: International relations, security issues, natural resource politics
Region of Expertise: Africa
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Iva Bozovic | bozovic@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: International political economy, development, economics
Region of Expertise: Eastern Europe, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Nina Rathbun | nrathbun@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: International Finance, Post-Communist Transition, U.S. Foreign Policy
Region of Expertise: Europe (East and West)
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Linguistics
Professor Elsi Kaiser |emkaiser@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Linguistics, psycholinguistics, adult language processing
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Barry Schein |schein@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Linguistics, semantics, philosophy of language
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Medicine
Professor Kiros Berhane | kiros@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Biostatistics; Epidemiology; Public Health
Region of Expertise: Africa
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Laura Ferguson | laura.ferguson@med.usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Global Health, global governance, health and human rights, law and policy
Region of Expertise: Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Roksana Karim | rkarim@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Epidemiology, Public Health, Global Health, Medicine
Region of Expertise: Southeast Asia, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Emeritus Win May | winmay@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Medical Education
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Heather Wipfli | hwipfli@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Global health, global governance, international politics, community engagement, work in low income countries
Region of Expertise: Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda, China, Southeast Asia, Mexico
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Music
Professor Adam Knight Gilbert | akgilber@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Music; musicology; performance practice, composition, and improvisation from ca. 1400-ca. 1750; European folk music; Musical symbolism, historical dance poetry and music. Performance of early music (recorder, shawm, bagpipes).
Region of Expertise: Western Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, UK), some knowledge of Brazil and New World music, Israel.
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Beatriz Ilari | ilari@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Music, education, psychology, arts
Region of Expertise: Brazil, Latin America, Portugal
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Lisa Cooper Vest | lvest@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Music; Cold War Culture; Nationalism; Avant-gardism; Horror Studies
Region of Expertise: Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Occupational Therapy
Professor Erna Blanche | blanche@chan.usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities, Pediatric Rehabilitation, Sensory Processing
Region of Expertise: Latin America, Asia
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Psychology
Professor Susan E. Luczak | luczak@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Clinical psychology, substance use, lifespan development, biopsychosocial risk and resilience
Region of Expertise: Subsaharan Africa, Western Europe, and Australia
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Public Diplomacy
Professor Robert Banks | robertdb@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Public Diplomacy, Diplomacy, International Relations, American Studies
Region of Expertise: Korea, Argentina, Nicaragua
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Religion
Professor David Albertson | dalberts@usc.edu
Field of expertise: Religious studies, medieval studies, intellectual history
Region of Expertise: Germany; more generally Europe and UK
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Professor Lisa Bitel | bitel@usc.edu
Field of expertise: Religion/History
Region of Expertise: European history, Ireland
Mentor for: Study/Research only
Teaching English as a Second Language
Professor Eric Roth | ericroth@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Persuasive writing, second language error correction, and fluency-focused communicative activities
Region of Expertise: Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, China, France, Spain, Open to all
Mentor for: ETA only
Professor Anastassia Tzoytzoyrakos | tzoytzoy@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Teacher Training, Oral Communication Skills, Pronunciation, Theater for Communication
Region of Expertise: Greece, Cyprus, Eastern Europe, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan
Mentor for: ETA only
The Writing Program
Professor Tamara Black | tamarabl@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Sociology, Gender, Culture, Pedagogy, Economic Sociology, Economics, Social Sciences, Qualitative Research Methods, Ethnography, In-depth Interviewing
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Ryan Boyd | ryanaboy@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Literature, pedagogy, higher education studies, politics and culture, environmental humanities
Region of Expertise: North America, the UK, Caribbean, Latin America
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Elizabeth Durst | edurst@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: literature, visual arts
Region of Expertise: Russia, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Antonio Elefano | elefano@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Law and Creative Writing/Literature
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Amanda Hobmeier | hobmeier@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Linguistics, Rhetoric and Composition, Professional Writing, Science Writing, Grant Writing, Teacher Education
Region of Expertise: Indonesia, India, The Philippines, Switzerland, France, England, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico, Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA
Professor Taiyaba Husain | thusain@usc.edu
Field of Expertise: Creative writing, literature, arts, pedagogy
Region of Expertise: Open to all
Mentor for: Study/Research and ETA