UNLV professor earns fellowship

By GINGER MIKKELSEN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Northwest Las Vegas resident Craig Walton will be traveling to the former East Germany on a Fulbright Fellowship early next year.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor will be teaching philosophy and ethics at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He also plans to work with faculty members and administrators to help rebuild the university's library collection.

Walton was among only about 2,000 people in the United States to receive the fellowship for the 2000-01 academic year.

Walton's wife, Vera, retired from her English and music teaching job at Las Vegas High School so she could go along.

"It was hard to leave, but it was time," Vera Walton said. She taught English and guitar at the school.

Craig Walton is fluent in German, having learned the language years ago in a total immersion program at the Goethe Institute in Germany. To receive the fellowship, Walton had to pass a German language exam that tested his skills in speaking, reading and writing. He also had to write an essay in German to explain the purpose and goals of his fellowship.

Vera Walton is not as fortunate as her husband, though. Her French is excellent, but she's new to the German language.

"I have about 15 projects to complete before we go," she said. "One of them is learning German."

In spite of the challenge, Vera Walton said she thinks the trip will be an adventure.

"Living in a (new) town for six months is going to be a lot of fun," she said. "Really getting to know people. That's very exciting to me."

While Craig Walton is teaching philosophy, his wife will be exploring the country and taking a couple of weeks off to teach English and creative writing in a school in Finland.

Craig Walton said his fellowship is especially meaningful since it gets back to the original intentions of the Fulbright Fellowship program.

Sen. J. William Fulbright established the program in 1946 to ease post-war tensions with an exchange of scholars between the United States and Germany. The program has since expanded to serve countries all over the world.

Craig Walton said his work is particularly vital since the university in Jena has fallen behind as a result of their years of isolation during the Cold War.