[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Buck-Morss-Susan.jpg” caption=”Susan F. Buck-Morss”]Susan F. Buck-Morss, the Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, has been named a 2005 Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar, a prestigious title reserved for a select few in Canada and the United States. Buck-Morss is a noted scholar of critical theory from Cornell University.

“Dr. Buck-Morss is a researcher with extraordinary breadth, doing a project which, to say the least, is ambitious,” said Michael K. Hawes, executive director of the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America. “We are thrilled to welcome her to the 2005-2006 McMaster Chair in Globalization.”

While at McMaster, Buck-Morss is researching An Archaeology of Globalization. Her interest lies in “aspects of history since 1492 that are particularly meaningful because of their resonance with today's global realities.”

Having already met and worked with a number of professors at McMaster, Buck-Morss is delighted to have been chosen as this year's Chair: “My interest in McMaster University's Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies is precisely because this title most accurately describes my work. The program at this university is innovative and unique. Most exciting to me is the opportunity to work with younger colleagues who are approaching issues of globalization and cultural studies with fresh ideas and from multiple perspectives.”

Robert O'Brien, acting director at the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, is equally as pleased with Buck-Morss' award: “Dr. Buck-Morss' path breaking work on Globalization and Culture is the perfect match for the Institute's active research agenda. Our faculty and graduate students are benefiting greatly from her input into our intellectual life.”

Buck-Morss range of interests is reflected in the multiple appointments she holds at Cornell University, including director of visual studies, professor of art history, professor of government and professor of German studies. This interdisciplinary scholar has been awarded a number of prestigious grants, including awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and has authored five books. Her third book, Dreamworld and Catastrophe: The Passing of Mass Utopia in East and West, was written following a Fulbright lecturing award to Russia in 1993.

In October, Buck-Morss led a seminar for graduate students on this topic and has hosted a successful a full-day colloquium entitled 'Criticizing Theory Today' at McMaster, which brought together scholars from Canada and across the United States. This month she is following up with her contacts made through these events and is meeting with students and faculty from across the University to further enrich her research program.

Long regarded as the world's premiere academic exchange program, the Fulbright attracts exceptional scholars from more than 150 countries worldwide. Among the fastest growing of the bilateral exchanges is the Canada-US Fulbright Program. Named for former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Canada and the United States Department of State, the Canada-US Fulbright Program has engaged more than 800 scholars in high-level academic exchanges since 1990.