By As she talks about her upcoming excursion to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, it is clear that Cal State Long Beach assistant professor Nancy Strow Sheley is looking forward to a new chapter of her life.
Sheley, an English and liberal studies assistant professor who has been at CSULB since 2001, recently received a Fulbright Scholar Award, which incorporates a six-month stay on the island of Cyprus.
Since the early 1960s, Cyprus has been divided between its Turkish and Greek citizens. With separate languages, customs, governments and a patrolled green zone known as the “buffer zone,” Cyprus is quite literally an island divided. But surprisingly, the country’s internal conflict is part of the appeal of the trip for Sheley.
In a similar situation, a previous Fulbright-Hays Travel Abroad Award compelled Sheley to spend six weeks in Africa in 2004. Along with 14 other educators, Sheley stayed in Rwanda, the site of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which killed approximately 800,000 people in a span close to only 100 days.
“[The trip] was such a life-transforming experience, partly because I was going to Africa, a Third World country, but mostly because it was Rwanda, and we were studying the genocide,” Sheley said. “I learned so much from just talking to the people there. I just felt that tragedy, but also the joy of their lives.”
Not having travelled for nearly 30 years prior, Sheley’s trip to Rwanda in 2004 opened the doors for a world of new opportunities and experiences.
“My first pick was to go back to Rwanda,” Sheley said. “But see as I’m travelling as a single white woman, it was best thought I should go somewhere safer. I wanted a place with internal conflict like Rwanda had, though, and Cyprus just seemed like the right place.”
Sheley will simultaneously teach courses in both feuding territories: the Greek University of Cyprus in the capital city of Nicosia and Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta. Luckily for Sheley, most college students and island residents of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish alike, speak fluent English.
With a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Kansas, Sheley’s courses in Cyprus will pertain to American culture. One of her courses, titled “The Conflicting American Dream,” will concern notions surrounding the American Dream.
“Most people, when they think about the American Dream, think of growing up to be president or having a house with a white picket fence, two children and a car,” Sheley said. “But in reality, many won’t grow up to be president. People don’t have equal opportunity. We all face obstacles. That’s the conflicting American Dream.”
Eagerly waiting until January 2008 when she will leave for Cyprus, Sheley lives her own America Dream. According to Sheley, she will miss her family, friends, pet dogs and students. After her semester stay in Cyprus is over, Sheley looks forward to coming back and sharing her experiences with her students.
“This whole semester trip to Cyprus is an honor,” Sheley said. “The good thing about it is I can bring what I learn back into the classroom.”
