Published: August 28, 2008 09:33 pm            

Sister of Providence in Uganda as Fulbright Scholar

Sister Judy Birgen, a Sister of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods since 1977, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar. She recently left for a 10-month ministry in Uganda.

She will teach at Uganda Martyr’s University and is likely to be involved in a establishing a social science program there.

Birgen is a native of Torrance, Calif. She most recently ministered as an associate professor at Chicago State University where she taught sociology and social work.

“I’ll be teaching there and I’ll probably be doing a little research on educational resilience among AIDS orphans who have managed to stay in high school. I have done research on educational resilience among long-term wards of the state, which is basically foster kids who go to college,” Birgen said.

“It’s a great opportunity. It’s very unknown to me. I spent part of a summer in Lithuania once with another sister. I worked at a summer camp there for special needs kids,” she added.

Birgen was encouraged to apply for the Fulbright opportunity by one of her students, who is Ugandan, some Ugandan priests to whom she was introduced, and faculty colleagues at Chicago State.

“I have had no missionary impulses in my life as a Sister of Providence. The south side of Chicago is as missionary as I get. It has never sparked an interest in me. I love our sisters who service in Asia. I love the fact that we are there. But it’s not a personal call for me,” Birgen said.

After the conversations of encouragement, Birgen responded by filling out the application, and was accepted. Birgen has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pepperdine University, a master’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in sociology, both from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a doctorate in sociology, also from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Birgen was the founder of the Illinois Hunger Coalition, traveling the state of Illinois to help those in need. She also has been intensely involved in food pantries in the Chicago area.

The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship program in international educational exchange, was proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1945 by Sen. William J. Fulbright of Arkansas. In the aftermath of World War II, Sen. Fulbright viewed the proposed program as a much-needed vehicle for promoting “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world.” His vision was approved by Congress and the program signed into law by President Truman in 1946.

Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Both U.S. and Visiting Fulbright Scholars lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields ranging from journalism and urban planning to music, philosophy, business administration and zoology.

For more information about any of the ministries of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, visit the Congregation’s Web site at www.SistersofProvidence.org.

        

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