Bloom to serve as Fullbright Specialist in Colombia

Associate professor of educational leadership in the College of Education Leslie Bloom will be a Fulbright Specialist in Medellin, Colombia this fall working on social justice approaches to qualitative research.  

Bloom will be working in Colombia from Oct. 21 through Nov. 6 with an interdisciplinary group made up of mostly faculty.

Besides planning to work with Colombian researchers as they move forward on their projects, Bloom has outlined three articles with them based on their collaboration. The plan is to publish them both in English and Spanish in the United States and Colombia.

"I've always had an interest in what it means to be engaged in social justice work," Bloom said. "I was a Peace Corps volunteer, so I've always believed in the importance of giving back and doing well in the world."

As a Peace Corps volunteer, Bloom taught English in Thailand after receiving her master's degree in English Literature, and she was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico for feminist organizations.

The Fulbright Specialist award is different from being a Fulbright Scholar because it is much shorter of a term. The Fulbright Program is a series of grants for international educational exchange for graduate students, scholars, teachers and professionals.

Part of her work in Medellin will consist of giving lectures at Colombian universities. Topics for the lectures range from HIV Transmission Risks in Colombia, Cultural Aspects and Use of Public Television for Increasing Civic Behavior among Adolescents and Street Children's Health Vulnerabilities in Medellin just to name a few.

In May of 2009 and 2010, Bloom conducted workshops at a qualitative research conference for a group of faculty researchers from Medellin, Colombia and has been working with them via the Internet.

Bloom has never visited Colombia and has begun taking Spanish language classes as part of the preparation process for her departure.

"I would encourage students to find opportunities to study abroad and to travel as much as they can. It's an exciting and life-changing experience. And once you're bit with the travel bug, you're bit forever. It's a wonderful experience," Bloom said.

This is Bloom's second year at Roosevelt after 17 years at Iowa State University. "One of the reasons I wanted to come to Roosevelt is because of the social justice mission of the university," Bloom said.