Four UW-W Faculty and Staff Garner Prestigious Awards
Written by Kristine Zaballos | Photos by Craig Schreiner and submitted
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater faculty across two colleges and two senior leaders have been honored with prestigious fellowships that offer transformative opportunities to teach, visit institutions and conduct research abroad in 2026.
Included are three Fulbright awards — designed to strengthen the recipient’s professional development and foster long‑term connections that enrich their careers, campuses, and communities — and one international visiting fellow program.
University of Jyväskÿla 2026 Visiting Fellow Programme
Jenna Cushing-Leubner, associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education and Professional Studies, was selected as a visiting fellow as part of the University of Jyväskÿla in Finland’s 2026 Visiting Fellow Programme, which accepts only 5-8% of applicants. The program supports short-term travel grants of up to three months for researchers with a doctoral degree to visit JYU and engage in high-quality collaborative research.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Finland 2026-27
Steven Girard, a professor of chemistry in the College of Letter and Sciences, was selected by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Finland Foundation as Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Finland for the 2026-27 school year. As a Fulbright-University of Turku Scholar, Girard will conduct research at the Turku Clinical Biomaterials Centre, studying bioactive glass-ceramics with renowned biomaterial researchers Pekka Vallittu, professor at the Institute of Dentistry at the University of Turku, and Leena Hupa, head of research for the Laboratory of Molecular Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi University.
Fulbright International Education Administrators Awards 2026-2027
Pieter deHart, incoming provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, and John McGuigan, director of the Center for Global Education on campus, each received a Fulbright International Education Administrators Award for 2026-2027 and will be participating in a two-week program in France in the fall of 2026, visiting Amiens, Rouen, and Paris and learning about the education system and making site visits to build connections.
UW-Whitewater has exchange partnerships with NEOMA Business School and Burgundy School of Business and a direct enrollment agreement for an immersive French program at Aix-Marseille University in Aix-en-Provence.
UW-Whitewater will share stories that highlight what the four awardees learned and how it will impact their teaching and the classroom experience after they return from their international research and teaching experiences.
For almost 10 years UW-Whitewater has been named a College of Distinction, a national honor that recognizes campuses for exceptional teaching in addition to dedication to student success.
