A&M-Commerce Faculty Named Prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar

Will embark on an eight-month research excursion

COMMERCE, TX, August 19, 2024— Texas A&M University-Commerce Assistant Professor Eralda Lameborshi, Ph.D., received the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. The Fulbright Award allows higher education faculty, as well as artists and professionals from a wide range of fields, to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects overseas.

The Fulbright educational exchange program, established in 1946 by former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, awards approximately 8,000 grants annually to students, teachers and more. The list of Fulbright recipients includes 42 heads of state, 90 Pulitzer Prize recipients and 62 Nobel Laureates. Scholarships are awarded through the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Lameborshi, who teaches world literature in the Department of Literature and Languages, is the second A&M-Commerce professor to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award this year. Fellow Literature and Languages faculty member Maia Lamarque, Ph.D., also received the award.

Continuing a legacy of education

Born and raised in a small mountain town in Albania, Lameborshi was exposed to the world of education at a young age by her mother, a literature teacher. 

When she was 17, Lameborshi stepped out in a big way by coming to the U.S. as an exchange student. She remained in the U.S. to continue her studies, earning a B.S. in Computer Science from Harding University in 2003, an M.A. in English from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2009 and a Ph.D. in English from Texas A&M University in 2017. She has taught at A&M-Commerce since 2021.

Lameborshi said she initially intended to earn her master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, but she grew to love studying English and literature.

“Some of the theoretical texts we were studying really just made sense to me and opened up the world in a way I hadn’t experienced before,” Lameborshi said. “I really fell in love with the discipline and decided to pursue my Ph.D. in English as well.”

A study of Southeastern Europe

Lameborshi’s main focus of study is the literature and film of Southeastern Europe, as well as the legacy of the former Ottoman Empire and how it shaped the region’s future. She has published several scholarly articles on the subject and received recognition from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work.

“The topics that I have engaged with include nationalism, citizenship and national belonging,” Lameborshi said. “In my academic pursuit, I find out more about my own upbringing and the kind of contexts that have affected my own cultural belonging.”

She said that many of the questions that arise from her research are very important for the young nation of Kosovo. Kosovo is a 4,200-square-mile republic in southeastern Europe that has experienced a turbulent history both before and since its relatively recent declaration of independence in 2008. Only holding diplomatic recognition from 104 member states of the United Nations, the developing country is still finding its footing and identity on the world stage.

“When academic work focuses on such small nations, it features these countries and their contributions both regionally and on the world,” Lameborshi said.

Traveling to Kosovo

As part of her Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, Lameborshi will leave in January 2025 for an eight-month research excursion to Kosovo. While there, she will work with faculty at the University of Pristina—an institution in the nation’s capital with more than 20,000 students—and other academics to create a cultural history of the capital and research how art in the region has been affected by the country’s former connection to Yugoslavia.

“My mother exposed me to the works of Kosovar intellectuals, and from a very young age, I wanted to understand why there was such upheaval in the region,” Lameborshi said. She hopes that studying the art, film and literature produced by Kosovars can create a better understanding of the region and its culture.

In addition to writing a book on Kosovar films, she intends to create connections between Kosovo and its diaspora population in America.

Creating understanding

Lameborshi says that the purpose of the Fulbright program is ultimately to foster understanding and stability between the U.S. and the wider world.

“The program works to create mutual understanding, cultural exchange and intercultural dialogue,” Lameborshi said. “The ultimate aim is to create global stability through these cultural alliances.”

Going beyond just academic publications, Lameborshi hopes to bring back experiences and knowledge from Kosovo that she can share with her students at A&M-Commerce.

“My hope is that my experience will be one that can expand their horizons beyond a local context,” Lameborshi said.

Learn more about the Fulbright program and Literature and Languages at A&M-Commerce