Miami, May 12, 2022 – Miami Dade College (MDC) North Campus professor of psychology and student life skills, Dr. Arlen Judith Garcia, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award to Norway at University of Bergen, where she will complete a project that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within education.
At the University of Bergen, Dr. Garcia is being hosted at the Department of Psychosocial Science by Dr. Nora Wiium, an internationally-known researcher in positive youth development. She will be contributing her counseling/mental health background to the current cross-national research team on positive youth development, among other educational activities.
Dr. Garcia earned a doctorate in developmental psychology. She is also a licensed mental health counselor, and state qualified supervisor in the State of Florida. Her research examines adolescent psychosocial development, specifically in the promotion of positive domains, such as identity and intimacy. She has been teaching undergraduate and graduate students at both public and private institutions for the last 18 years, including MDC North Campus, where she has taught for the last 12 years. She was a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar in 2012, awarded the City of Miami Police Department Endowed Teaching Chair in the Social Sciences 2016-2018.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Garcia is among over 400 U.S. citizens who share expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program each year. Recipients of Fulbright Specialist awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
Participating governments 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. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Fulbrighters address critical global issues in all disciplines, while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.
For more information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, please visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by telephone 202-632-6452 or e-mail ECA-Press@state.gov.