A West Virginia State University (WVSU) mathematics professor has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Award and will spend part of 2016 teaching in the Slovak Republic.
Dr. Sonya Armstrong will spend February through July 2016 living in the Slovakian city of Banska Bystrica, while teaching and doing research at Matej Bel University.
“I am very humbled and excited to have been selected as a Fulbright Scholar and I look forward to representing WVSU and to being an ambassador for the state and country,” said Armstrong, a tenured professor at WVSU. “I am eager to learn more about their educational systems and to share with them what we do here.”
Armstrong will be part of the Department of Mathematics at Matej Bel University and will teach mathematics and statistics courses.
“This is really an honor for Dr. Armstrong and, on behalf of the State family, I congratulate her for earning this prestigious award,” said WVSU President Brian O. Hemphill. “It speaks to the quality of our faculty and to their ongoing dedication to pursuing personal learning and scholarship opportunities. Dr. Armstrong is just one example of how our faculty continue to learn and extend their knowledge to our students providing an even more valuable college education.”
The Fulbright is the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world. Scholars are selected through open, merit-based competitions. The U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 300,000 participants with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. In the United States, the Institute of International Education administers and coordinates activities relevant to the Fulbright Student Program and Fulbright Scholar Program on behalf of the U.S Department of State.
Armstrong joined the faculty of WVSU in 1999 first as an assistant professor. She then earned the rank of associate professor and finally professor. She served as chair of the WVSU Department of Mathematics and Computer Science from 2005-2013. Armstrong conducts active research on a variety of topics and regularly gives presentations on the local, national and international level.
Armstrong earned her doctorate degree in mathematics education and her master’s degree in statistics both from the University of Rochester. She also holds a master’s degree in numerical science from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Bernard Baruch College.
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