IMAGE: Penn State
“Throughout his long and successful career at Penn State, Rob Crane has championed the need to situate his research and academic discipline in the global context. His legacy to all the students who he has taught and advised is extraordinary, and faculty and staff consider him a knowledgeable, inspiring and gracious colleague,” said Roger Brindley, vice provost for Global Programs.
Brindley continued, “In recent years he has become a critical voice as Global Programs worked to enhance global engagement within the values and goals of the University. His thoughtful but always calm and caring demeanor is respected across the commonwealth and around the country, and Global Programs will miss an exemplary leader and a good friend when Rob retires.”
IMAGE: Carter Hunt
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
With the Fulbright Scholar Award, Hunt redirected his ongoing research that seeks to understand how conservation-based tourism affects people who live in and near protected areas. His initial Fulbright work in 2019 identified a need for further anthropological understanding of the diverse human population in the islands, where over 35,000 people now reside.
People and the Galapagos Islands
With archival resources on the human history of Galapagos gathered from the CDF, Hunt proposed a new study, “Migrant worldviews and emergent ecological knowledge,” which was funded by the NSF in 2020. This project will explore the ongoing cultural convergence underway in the islands, which were recognized as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. D