Dr. Spencer Benson, Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and has been selected to be a 2008-09 Fulbright Scholar in the first cohort of the Fulbright Hong Kong General Education Program. These Fulbright awards are designed to bring to Hong Kong "prominent American faculty who have developed and guided exemplary general education programs in the US" (Fulbright Hong Kong General Education Program, HKAC) to facilitate the move to four-year undergraduate programs at Hong Kong Universities and the introduction of liberal arts curricula at Hong Kong secondary schools.

Dr. Benson and three other US educational leaders will travel to Hong Kong this fall to teach, conduct developmental work on general education, collaborate across Hong Kong universities, and lead a series of workshops on general education for academic leaders from throughout the Asian region. According to the HKAC, the major criteria in selecting this cohort of Fulbright scholars were “their ability to contribute to developing new interdisciplinary curriculum and pedagogical skills at HK universities.”

The Fulbright Hong Kong Education Program is supported by a $1 million contribution by prominent Hong Kong philanthropist Po Chung, and a matching grant from the Hong Kong Government.