Peter Dedek, an associate professor in the College of Applied Arts at Texas State University, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and research at Universidad Mayor in Chile during the 2017 spring semester.
Dedek will study how Spanish colonial churches in Chile were influenced by the design traditions of indigenous cultures in the regions where they were built. He plans to lecture on this topic along with American architectural history and historic preservation.
“A vast region of the United States was settled by the Spanish, meaning Chile and the United States have a common tradition of Spanish Colonial architecture,” said Dedek. “Their architectural development differs in that rural architecture in Chile was influenced by different indigenous cultures than those of the United States, and also, Chile continued to embrace neoclassical design for a generation after the United States had adopted modernism as its dominant architectural style.”
The Fulbright program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
“By teaching in Chile I hope to raise awareness of this fascinating Latin American country at Texas State and also bring my knowledge and enthusiasm to the students of the Universidad Mayor, exposing them to American perspectives on design, historic preservation and architectural history,” Dedek said.
For further information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.