Report from Bruce Bennett – Georgetown University, USA

Bruce Bennett was the Group of Eight Professor of Australian Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC in 2005-06. This is a report about his time there:

"Founded in 1789, Georgetown University sits on a hill above the Potomac River in Washington DC. It is Bill Clinton's old university. Madeleine Albright is on the faculty. The Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies (CANZS) has offices in the Intercultural Center in the prestigious Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

My senior undergraduate course on the Australian short story attracted a ceiling enrolment of thirty-five students who were intelligent and interested. This was one of six courses at the time with substantial Australian or New Zealand content from the disciplines of English, History, International Relations and Government.

The Director of CANZS is Dr Alan Tidwell, whose PhD is from the University of Kent at Canterbury and whose field is international relations and conflict resolution. He has taught at Macquarie University. His colleague, Dr Patty O'Brien (formerly from UNSW) teaches History.

Fulbrighters and other scholarship holders are sometimes accommodated at the Center on a shorter term basis for research and/or teaching. While I was at Georgetown, for example, Fulbrighter Brendan O'Connor from Griffith University was researching the hot topic of anti-Americanism.

I recommend Georgetown University very strongly for a study leave in which Australianists might wish to research and also offer a course on Australia. Remember, however, that there are long lead times involved in such planning. Think at least a year ahead.

For more information, contact the Director of CANZS, Alan Tidwell, at act35@georgetown.edu"

Professor Bruce Bennett – Professor of English
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra