Photos By Matt Weir / The Collegian
During the fall 2010 through the fall 2011 semesters, emeritus economics professor James Cypher will study to see if Mexico can learn from Brazil economically and technologically.
Cypher is able to do this because he received a grant through the Fulbright program, a government supported program intended to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,” according to the Fulbright website.
The grant he received is a new award called the serial award which is given to those interested in doing short-term research. This money will pay for housing, trips, a book allowance and his salary.
He will teach full time in Mexico at the University of Zacatecas, a public state school. There, Cypher will work in the development studies doctoral program.
Cypher started teaching at Fresno State in 1967, and is currently finishing his last year in the early retirement program after starting it five years ago.
He has been gone during the majority of his time working at Fresno state because he has had several appointments abroad and in Washington, D.C.
While at Fresno State, his specialty has been economic development.
Q: What qualified you for the Fulbright Award and what does it mean?
A: The Fulbright program is the oldest and most prestigious program sponsored by the U.S. government to provide for an exchange of scholars. That means that every year a certain number of people from all over the world get to come to the United States to teach or do research. A certain number of people in the United States are permitted to go abroad and either teach or do research. In my case, I won a scholarship award, which is a lot more competitive than teaching, because you have to compete against everybody in every field. There are just a few of these awards. I recently saw a list of people who will be going to Brazil next year, and almost all of them come from very prestigious universities like Harvard. I wouldn’t have gotten this award if I hadn’t been publishing extensively since I got my doctorate.
Q: When will you be heading to Mexico, and how long will you be there?
A: In the fall, I will be in the south of Brazil for about two months. Then I will be going back to Mexico and then in fall 2011 I will be in Brazil. This is perfect for me because I’m not a Brazilian specialist; I’m a Latin American specialist. So, being able to be there in residence during two separate periods will give me time to develop what I learned on the first trip and do a much better job with the rest of my supported research. I’m very pleased to get the award. I didn’t think I would. It’s not usually awarded to people who are at the end of their career. I’m doing more work than I ever have. Not having much to teach constantly has opened a lot more doors.
Q: What kind of research will you be doing in Mexico and Brazil?
A: Poor countries are constantly asking themselves “why are we poor?” For example, why is Mexico poor? We’ve seen many Asian nations move from depravation to relative prosperity. How did they do it? Brazil is the only place in Latin America that is developing technology for the government and private sector. I will be looking at what Brazil has done and how they have done it in the last 30 years, and how this can be an indicator for Mexico.
Q: Have you researched other countries or done anything like this before?
A: Yes, I’ve done it before. I’m currently finishing a book on Mexico and it has a lot to do with these themes and Mexico’s economic dilemma. It’s nothing identical though.
Q: What are you looking forward to?
A: I’m very pleased that Fulbright considered me, and that I am worthy of starting over. I’ll be working in new areas, but they still have links with areas I’ve worked with in the past. It’ll probably turn out to be exciting. [I look forward to] interacting with new people and being in new places, and also coming up with new ideas.
Q: Are you expecting to find anything in particular?
A: The basic outlines of what I’m doing are generally [not expected]. I need to get into the details of something. In terms of what’s in Brazil and what will happen in Brazil, [Latin America] isn’t taking that and applying it. Any good researcher won’t know what you’re going to include. It’s a creative process. People usually think artists and writers are the only people involved in the creative process, they think that economists only sit by their computers and that’s not right.