New Fulbright specialist to connect Carolina students and faculty with research projects worldwide
Phillip Barnes, emeritus faculty with the environment and sustainability program in the School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment has been recommended by the Fulbright Specialist Peer Review Panel to be placed on the Fulbright Specialist Roster. The Fulbright Specialist Roster is a list of individuals sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning.
Barnes, who was named a Fulbright Scholar in 2008-2009 and again in 2015-2016 is an internationally known expert in environmental management systems integration and auditing. Both of his Fulbright Scholar awards were established through invitations from contacts in Morocco, who learned of Barnes’ research from a Moroccan student taking his class in 2007. The Moroccan connection generated visits, telephone discussions and eventually a search for funding to assist Barnes in traveling to work with his Moroccan colleagues on teaching and implementation of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 EMS. The funding search led Barnes to attend a workshop sponsored by the University of South Carolina’s Office for International Scholars in the Division of Human Resources.
Prior to the Fulbright awards, Barnes had worked with faculty and students from other countries, but the Fulbright program provided a network of individuals across the globe to connect with in his field of research that continues to grow. As a Fulbright Specialist, Barnes hopes to work with additional countries and to continue building the International Sustainability Management Education (ISME) network that he and a professor at the University of Siegen began in early 2000. The ISME network brings faculty and students together from universities and organizations worldwide interested in providing educational programs in environmental management systems and sustainable development.
As a Fulbright Specialist, Barnes will have the opportunity to build upon the ISME mission and continue his work in connecting University of South Carolina students and faculty with projects in various countries. For his first project since being listed on the Fulbright Specialist Roster, Barnes has once again been invited to Morocco. In December, he will travel to Tangier to work with a faculty team from the University Abdelmalek Essaadi and managers at the Tangier Port MED to integrate the ISO 14001 into the Port’s Sustainable Development Plan.