TROY – Dr. Priya Menon, associate professor of English at Troy University, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program grant to India from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

In her research, Dr. Menon will study and document a counter-archive of the typical success stories of emigration to the Arabian Gulf States disseminated by mainstream media in India. In addition to her research, Dr. Menon will be offering a series of lectures and discussions on the topic and will help local faculty develop curricula, host seminars and engage in community services that will benefit expatriates who have returned to India from the Gulf States.

Dr. Menon is one of more than 1,200 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research and provide expertise abroad for the 2016-2017 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

“This is an incredible honor, and I am very excited and humbled to be a part of the illustrious Fulbright alumni,” Dr. Menon said. “There is an exciting and growing body of literary texts, primarily conceived and circulated in southeast Asia, featuring these emigrant workers’ quotidian experiences which often involves exploitation grounded in a neo-colonial model of economic inequality and exclusion. It will be interesting to study whether literature can aid in bringing about social change apropos Arabian Gulf emigration.”

Dr. Larry Blocher, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts, commended Dr. Menon for the award.

“It is exciting to see Dr. Menon’s scholarship recognized at this level,” Dr. Blocher said. “She is a bright light among our Communication and Fine Arts faculty and all Troy University faculty. We certainly commend her for the dedication she has to teaching, her scholarly research and service to others.”

A member of the TROY faculty full-time since 2007, Dr. Menon received the University’s Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching in 2009. She holds two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree from Calicut University in Kerala, India. She also earned a master’s degree in English education from TROY in 2005, and received her doctorate in literary studies from Georgia State University in 2011.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build relations between the people of the United States and other countries that are needed to solve global challenges. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.