Fulbright Scholar James J. Kimble Leads Faculty in Quest for

James Kimble, Ph.D.

Professor Jim Kimble's experience as a Fulbright Scholar has long made him a university resource for faculty and students seeking to participate in the prestigious grant program. This fall, he becomes Faculty Prestigious Fellowships Director.

In this role, Kimble, professor of communication, College of Human Development Culture and Media, reports to Dean John Buschman, supporting faculty who apply for Fulbright programs and multiple other national and international honorifics. "We want the best for Seton Hall University," said Kimble. "We exist in a competitive environment and have lots of esteemed peers who are competing for prestige." Seton Hall must thus be a stand-out to be as strong as possible in competitions for honorifics. When asked to take on the new role, Kimble agreed enthusiastically. "I said absolutely - this is a kind of service, and it's exactly the kind of service that I personally prize."

In 2016, Kimble embarked on his own Fulbright journey, inspired by a professor friend from Nebraska Wesleyan University. He spent a spring semester as a Fulbright Scholar in Rijeka, Croatia, just off the Adriatic Sea. There, in that beautiful place, he completed a teaching fellowship at the local university. Kimble recalls he made many friends and new connections, who became colleagues he has today. "It was just amazing," he remembers. "I became the Fulbright liaison for our campus because I wanted my peers to have similar experiences, or at least the opportunity to have that experience. And so, I guess you might say I became sort of a missionary for the Fulbright program."

The new role comes about, said Kimble, because the provost is extremely interested in investing in the faculty in this way. "Ultimately, that's an investment in the university's future. They look to me because I have somewhat of a track record here," he suggests. The "track record" he refers to modestly, is long. Kimble served as the founding director of the Seton Hall undergraduate external awards program, which endeavored to see students entering academic competitions win a Rhodes Scholarship, a Marshall Fellowship, a Truman Award, or a student Fulbright.

Prior to the external awards program, Seton Hall students were supported ad hoc on applications. "We had never had an organized effort [before]," said Kimble. "And so historically, Seton Hall had only ever won two student Fulbrights, which was pretty meager. But once we started focusing on it and marshalling our efforts, very quickly, we earned a lot of Fulbrights. Our students were really doing well."

Soon after this program's success, Kimble was called upon to be the University's Fulbright liaison for faculty Fulbright projects. "We are thrilled to have Jim in this role," said John Buschman, dean of University Libraries, associate provost, Research & Innovation. "He is well positioned to help our faculty compete for prestigious fellowships that will recognize their accomplishments and expand the footprint of those activities at Seton Hall. This is another strategic move by Provost Passerini, and a good one."

While students may apply for a grant their senior year, and then study or teach abroad for a year, faculty requirements are stricter and, says Kimble "kind of a level up," though fundamentally faculty Fulbrighters are doing similar things during their grant year. Kimble reports that Seton Hall produces at least two and sometimes as many as four faculty - also known as "Scholar" - Fulbright recipients per year, primarily because the University decided to focus on the effort.

Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that operate in over 160 countries. They provide support for specialized scholarly teaching and conducting of research abroad. Because Fulbright scholars often play a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy by establishing long-term relationships between people and nations, they receive support from certain governments, corporations, foundations and international institutions. In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

So far, in 2024, several faculty members have been awarded Fulbrights. In July, Tracy A. Kaye, J.D., professor of law and Eric Byrne Research Fellow, director of the Dean Acheson Legal Scholar Program and IRS Chief Counsel Externship Program at Seton Hall University Law School, received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award - her third - to Vienna, Austria, for the 2024 fall semester from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Of Kaye, Buschman said, "It is notable that Professor Kaye was chosen again as a Fulbright scholar." He praised Kaye's scholarly relationships with eminent universities and said she was a leader in how Seton Hall faculty foster international collaboration and interdisciplinarity. "It elevates and enhances Seton Hall's reputation as a home for great minds."

Also in July, Ines Angeli Murzaku, Ph.D., professor of religion, Department of Religion, director, Catholic Studies Program, and founding chair, Department of Catholic Studies, received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Cluj-Nopoca, Romania, for the 2025 spring semester from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. This will be Murzaku's fifth Fulbright.

Since then, an additional Seton Hall faculty member has received a Fulbright: Karen Boroff, Ph.D., professor of management and dean emerita, Stillman School of Business, will travel to Madrid, Spain, for the 2025 spring semester. With Kimble at the lead, surely more will follow.

Historically, notable Fulbrighters include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government, and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public and non-profit sectors. Visit here for more information about the Fulbright Program.

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