May 12, 2008
Dr. Larisa Buhin, assistant professor of clinical psychology, has made Chicago School of Professional Psychology history as the school's first Fulbright Scholar. She will be traveling to the University of Zagreb in the Republic of Croatia this fall to teach and conduct research on ethnic identity.
Dr. Buhin is one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. The program operates in more than 150 countries worldwide.
"It is such an honor to get this award and have a chance to do something so early in my career that is meaningful to me and where I grew up," said Dr. Buhin, who immigrated to the United States from Europe in 1990.
Dr. Buhin's Fulbright Scholarship grant will give her full funding to teach and research for nine months starting October 1, the beginning of the university's fall term. The course she will be teaching, Humanistic-Existentialist Psychology, according to Dr. Buhin, has never been offered by the university's Department of Psychology. "I am excited to see how Croatian psychology students take to it and what type of cross-cultural adaptation will result," she said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Buhin's research will draw from her expertise in multicultural psychology and research in prevention of racism. One of her projects will be conducting qualitative interviews with adolescents to gather, among other things, a further understanding into the process of generational transmission of ethnic identity.
"In the United States we talk about race differences, but Croats are probably over 95 percent European or white. In that setting, ethnic, rather than racial, difference become salient," said Dr. Buhin. "I want to know how the post-civil war generation of adolescents learns what it means to be Croatian. How do they develop pride in this ethnic identity? Can ethnic pride be developed without simultaneously developing hatred or animosity toward other ethnic groups? Knowing more about these processes has potential for preventing future ethnic conflict in Croatia and other multi-ethnic nations around the world."
Dr. Buhin received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and holds a master's degree in community counseling from Loyola University Chicago. She did her undergraduate work in psychology at Roosevelt University. Her clinical interests include working with culturally different adolescents and young adults, particularly through community- and school-based outreach and prevention.
