Jan 27, 2025 Librarian Receives Fulbright Grant for Intercultural Exchange
Marie Paiva, librarian at the J. Willard Marriott Library, was recently awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant. The award will allow her to complete a project at Mohammed bin Rashid Library in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project will serve to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefitting participants, institutions and communities both in the United States and overseas through a variety of library education and training activities.

Marie Paiva is one of four hundred U.S. citizens to receive the award this year. The awardees are selected based on their academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad. While there, she will teach library staff about disaster preparedness, working with vulnerable populations and even the Dewey Classification system, amongst many things.
“Not only am I going to UAE to train library staff, but I will be able to observe and learn from a completely different region of the world! I’m excited to be able to share that knowledge with the Marriott Library,” explains Paiva. “I enjoy these international interactions as it makes me understand and appreciate other cultures and practices. I feel honored to be selected for this grant and hope to do my best with this project.”
Chris Low, assistant professor and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, explains his enthusiasm for the work Marie will be doing, “As a senior former fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi, my research on the environmental history of desalination, water and climate took me to the UAE. And there are several other faculty members at the U who are conducting research in Dubai and Sharjah currently. Thus, we are especially excited to learn more about Marie’s experiences and benefit from the connections that she is forging. The UAE and the wider Arabian Peninsula have made tremendous strides in the fields of library science and museum work in recent years. To see our University of Utah specialists at the forefront of these advances is very exciting!”
About the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.
Paiva isn’t new to helping improve libraries in different parts of the world. She has traveled many times to Ethiopia to work with academic libraries including Addis Ababa. In fact, over the course of 20 years, Marie has made several trips to Ethiopia as a volunteer seeking to improve libraries.
Jason
Posted at 09:53h, 31 JanuaryCongratulations, Marie! Well deserved!