Researching family storytelling and resilience in Poland

Haley Horstman, associate professor in the College of Arts and Science’s Communication Department, recently received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to Poland for her work in family storytelling, trauma, and resilience. As a Fulbright Scholar, Horstman will be working at the Polish Institute of Advanced Studies in Warsaw, Poland, for nine months beginning in November 2021. She will be conducting research on how families construct and transmit resilience to their children through storytelling. Her long-term goal is to understand family storytelling and resilience in a variety of international contexts to create culturally-informed narrative resilience interventions for families coping with stress. “I want to create interventions to help people [of different minority groups and different cultures] process their difficult experiences through stories and storytelling,” she says.

“The Fulbright is a very prestigious award, but it’s not surprising Dr. Horstman received it on her first time applying,” says Brian Houston, chair of the Communication Department. “She has an extensive record of international education and research. She has led our summer study abroad program in Italy, conducted research with colleagues at University of Western Cape in South Africa, and is serving as our current director of International Programs. Dr. Horstman is exactly the type of faculty member that the Fulbright program was created for.”

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. As Fulbright Scholar alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.