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By Savanah Weed

Troy University has been selected to host a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence from Slovenia during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Dr. Borut Roncevic, Dean and sociology professor at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica, was selected for the Fulbright award by the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program brings visiting scholars from abroad to U.S. colleges and universities, helping the institutions internationalize their curricula, campuses and surrounding communities and diversify the educational experiences of their students, faculty, staff and stakeholders. Roncevic is one of more than 45 Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence among 1,000 outstanding foreign faculty and professionals who will teach and pursue research in the United States for the 2023-2024 academic year through the worldwide Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program.

Roncevic will teach two undergraduate and two graduate classes and will collaborate with scholars, engage in research and participate in campus life. He will also visit local elementary and secondary schools, give addresses, meet with students at other Alabama universities—focusing on historically black colleges—and interact with the local community.

In recent years, Roncevic’s research has focused on innovations and technologies in regional development, circular economy and strategic steering of development, especially in the context of the European Union and East European societies.

He received his Ph.D. in sociology in 2003 from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. He has also been a visiting scholar at other universities and institutes in the United States as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Lebanon and Croatia.

As a Ph.D. student. Roncevic received a prestigious Marie Curie fellowship to conduct research in Denmark. The European Union also awarded him two Jean Monnet Chairs and three Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence. He is an accredited evaluator of quality in higher education and has worked as an evaluator in Slovenia, Lithuania and Ireland, serving one year as Director General for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education in Slovenia. In addition to his role as Dean, Roncevic is currently serving as Advisor to the Minister of Information Society, Public Administration and Media in the government of North Macedonia.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international academic exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. It is funded through an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Participating governments and home and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.

Dr. Michael Slobodchikoff, professor and division chair of TROY’s political science department, said it is a great honor for TROY to be able to host a Fulbright scholar.

“Getting a Fulbright award is recognition of the excellent research conducted by TROY facult and further shows TROY’s status as Alabama’s International University. The Fulbright program allows us to bring international scholars to work with Troy University students and provides them with skills that will help them be successful in today’s competitive market,” he said. “It is very rare for universities to qualify to host a Fulbright scholar. It is a very prestigious award.

“We are lucky to have Dr. Roncevic join us for a full academic year and share his expertise with the Troy University community as well as with the community at large. Troy University is expanding its reputation as a research university, and hosting a Fulbright scholar is evidence of Troy’s great reputation.”

Since its inception in 1946, over 400,000 people from all backgrounds — students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals — have participated in the Fulbright Program and returned home with an expanded worldview, a deep appreciation for their host country and its people and a new network of colleagues and friends. Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs and university presidents, as well as leading journalists, artists, scientists and teachers. They include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur Fellows and thousands of leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors.

ECA sponsors the Fulbright Program, and several non-profit, cooperative partners implement and support the program on the Bureau’s behalf. For more information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by e-mail: ECA-Press@state.gov.