Gillian Richards-Greaves, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography in the Spadoni College of Education and Social Sciences at Coastal Carolina University, has been awarded a Fulbright IIE (Institute of International Education) grant. The grant will support six months of teaching at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) in Anambra State, Nigeria. As a scholar of the African diaspora, Richards-Greaves will teach interactive, experiential learning courses that investigate the complexities of ethnicity and race in Africa and its diasporas.

Richards-Greaves’ service as a Fulbright scholar will include assisting NAU with curriculum and program development, focusing on the diversification of course offerings, the use of innovative technology in the classroom, virtual instruction, and distance learning.

“An opportunity to teach at Nnamdi Azikiwe University will enable me to develop new pedagogical skills and become more flexible, particularly to serve student populations of diverse cultures and with differential access to scholarly resources,” Richards-Greaves said. “By working at NAU, I will foster institutional collaborations between NAU and CCU in the form of faculty and student exchanges, faculty-student research projects and publications, and the sharing and dissemination of pedagogical techniques and materials.”

Richards-Greaves is an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist whose research interests include the musical, cultural, linguistic, and ritual expressions of the African diaspora, particularly of the English-speaking Caribbean. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology and ethnomusicology from Indiana University at Bloomington.

The Fulbright Program, the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.