Music Professor Mark Harbold recently was selected to receive a Fulbright-Nehru U.S. Scholar Award, which will enable him to spend four months teaching and collaborating with faculty at Madras Christian College in Chennai, India.

“I’m very deeply touched to have received this honor,” he said. “I have received such extraordinary hospitality in India over the years and my hosts have provided so many rich experiences for me, I’m looking forward to this as a way of paying them back.”

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program has provided opportunities for almost 300,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential— to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Professor Harbold’s Fulbright project, titled Collaboration in Teaching and Learning Western Music in South India, perfectly melds Harbold’s professional and personal interests. He has had a lifelong fascination with India and “an abiding love” for Indian classical music. Professor Harbold has been visiting India regularly since 2005, partnering with other Elmhurst faculty members to offer January Term courses on the peoples, religions, music and art of India.

His Fulbright grant activities will include giving lectures and collaborating with professors at Madras Christian College, consulting with the faculty about developing a church music program, visiting other educational institutions to observe how music is taught in South India, and offering workshops to the College and Chennai communities in Western music theory, arranging and church music.

Harbold will begin his Fulbright project in December.

“We are thrilled for Mark and congratulate him on receiving a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award,” said President Troy D. VanAken. “This prestigious award is not only a wonderful and well-deserved opportunity for him, but also another feather in the cap of Elmhurst College and the work of our faculty.”