Christopher Zirkle has been awarded a 2021-2022 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Finland

Christopher Zirkle, Department of Educational Studies associate professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology, has been awarded a 2021-2022 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Finland for “International Collaboration for Vocational Teacher Education.”

From August – December 2021, Zirkle will be teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland. He will teach two classes, one on the Foundations of Vocational Education in the United States and one on Teachers and Teacher Education in the United States. Zirkle will also be visiting schools, observing classes and interacting with teachers and school administrators.

“I hope to learn how vocational-technical education is developed, financed, delivered and assessed in Finland which has one of the best vocational education systems in the world,” Zirkle said. “I also hope to see how our two universities might collaborate on joint teaching and research.”

As the program chair for Workforce Development and Education in Education and Human Ecology, Zirkle oversees a career-technical teacher education preparation program that brings individuals from business and industry into teaching.

Zirkle was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant for the 2020-2021 cycle for the same project, however the COVID-19 pandemic prevented that Fulbright exchange from taking place.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

For more information about the Fulbright Scholar Program, contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.