When Dr. Richard Kortum of ETSU’s Department of Philosophy and Humanities visited Azerbaijan as a Fulbright Scholar, he found a nation just beginning to gain its footing after years of domination by the Soviet Union.
Kortum worked closely with the country’s Minister of Education, Parliament, Office of the President, university officials, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. ambassador to the secular Muslim nation.
The Honorable Reno Harnish III, U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, noted, “I have never seen a Fulbright Scholar take such an active and helpful role in the development of the country to which he or she was assigned.”
Kortum’s host during his Fulbright Scholar tenure was Dr. Natiq Yusifov, a leading figure in the efforts to reform education in Azerbaijan. This spring, the roles are reversed. Yusifov is now a Fulbright Scholar visiting ETSU with Kortum as his host.
While Yusifov is interested in the entire academic process of American universities, he is especially focused on the accreditation system. Among his other areas of inquiry are curriculum development, the selection of core requirements and elective courses, and standards of scholarship.
Another of Yusifov’s objectives is the establishment of a formal partnership between ETSU and the Azerbaijan University of Languages in Baku, Yusifov’s home institution.
“Universities in Azerbaijan face serious challenges in quality assurance and accreditation, and the American experience in these areas … will prove immensely valuable for the reform efforts underway in Azerbaijan,” Yusifov said.
Through his observations of ETSU, he said, “The classrooms are so well-equipped. Your professors are dynamic and engaging.”
A lecturer in English at the Azerbaijan University of Languages, Yusifov also serves as the Vice-Rector on Academic Affairs and as Expert to the Education Committee of the Council of Europe through his nation’s Ministry of Education.
Yusifov holds a Ph.D. in philology from Russia’s Pyatiqorsk Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, and he has participated in seminars in France, Sweden, and Portugal through the Council of Europe Education Committee. He is also the author of four books and numerous scholarly articles.
Yusifov will continue his work at ETSU through the month of May and is accompanied by his son, Anar, who is attending ETSU classes while majoring in a new American studies degree, which Kortum helped establish at the Azerbaijan University of Languages.
Kortum is pleased with the results of the exchange. “Senator (William) Fulbright,” he explains, “was a real visionary. This and other initiatives in the sphere of public diplomacy does more to develop mutual understanding and world peace in ways that massing weapons can never do.
“Dr. Yusifov and his colleagues at the University of Languages are like family to me now,” Kortum says. “I heartily encourage ETSU faculty, administrators, and graduate students to apply for this extraordinary opportunity.”
For further information, contact Yusifov at 439-8310. Kortum is available at 439-6492 or e-mail kortumr@etsu.edu.

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