3 Salem State Professors From North Shore Earn Fulbright Awards

SALEM, MA — Three Salem State University professors from the North Shore earned prestigious Fulbright Awards for the 2022-23 academic year to support their extended research or teaching grant programs abroad.

Professor of Social Work Zoe Kessler, of Wenham, is researching the deinstitutionalization of social care in Latvia. Professor of History Michele Louro, of Marblehead, is teaching and conducting research in New Delhi, India. Professor of Accounting and History John McArdle, of Salem, traveled to Kosovo to help a university strengthen its economics program.

Kessler has been in Latvia since January interviewing policy experts, service providers and other experts about the country's plan to close all orphanages and institutional care for those with disabilities — shifting completely to a home and foster care model — by 2024.

Kessler highlights the need for data on the impact of deinstitutionalization, particularly as other former Soviet bloc countries plan to implement similar policies.

"The research from this study will provide a new dimension to the established body of knowledge on children growing up in the social care system and would be one of the most comprehensive research projects on deinstitutionalization in Latvia," Kessler said. "The outcomes of this study have the potential to impact the life trajectories of children and families in Latvia and beyond."

Kessler and her husband adopted their daughter from Latvia in 2014 and she hopes to publish her findings after she analyzes the research when she returns home in July.

Louro is teaching and conducting research in India on a trial linked to the Red Scare for her next book, while also co-teaching a class at Jawaharlal Nehru University that is virtual for her Salem State students.

"One of my goals is to not only teach history but to teach students to be global citizens of the world," Louro said. "I'm especially excited for students in the U.S. and India to collaborate and learn from one another."

Louro is the author of "Comrades against Imperialism: Nehru, India and Interwar Internationalism" (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and co-editor and contributor of League against Imperialism: Lives and Afterlives (Leiden Press, 2020).

At Salem State, Louro teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on modern world history, South Asia, and the British Empire.

McArdle of the Bertolon School of Business traveled to Kosovo with a grant from the Fulbright Scholar Program to help the University "Isa Boletini" Mitrovica strengthen its economics program.

McArdle visited Mitrovica for 25 days in October 2022 to review the university's existing undergraduate program in economics and help develop an accreditation proposal for a master's program. He met with faculty, students, administrators, representatives from the Kosovo Accreditation Agency, municipal government officials, business owners, and alumni to conduct a needs assessment and analyze the opportunities for educational and economic development.

"Kosovo has an incredibly young population, and there's a lot of interest in higher education opportunities at the bachelor's and master's level," McArdle said. "They were looking for ways to serve the needs of the student population and the regional community that make sense for their local context, and that required understanding the unique place Mitrovica is."

McArdle said Salem State plans to further its relationship with the University Isa Boletini Mitrovica through Salem State’s Collaborative Online International Learning initiative.

"We hope to continue our partnership with educational exchanges, joint research projects, and other community-engaged work," he said.

McArdle will be returning to Kosovo for a month in May to continue that work.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)