Dr. Victoria Mukerji, associate professor of visual arts at Pacific Union College, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to teach at Goa University in India for six months.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and aims to foster understanding between countries through scholarly exchanges. Each year, about 800 scholars from the United States are awarded lectureships to schools in more than 150 participating countries. In return, about 800 international scholars are sponsored through the program to teach or conduct research in American universities.

Mukerji will be returning to her first love in India. Although she was raised in the United States, her father is Indian and she has spent the majority of her adult life in India. While she was working on her dissertation for her Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Berkeley, she went to India for her research into intellectual identity formation in the post-colonial world. She ended up spending 18 years in India working as an anthropologist, filmmaker and advertising executive. “I made a commitment to India,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be going back.”

While in India, Mukerji produced a documentary about the cathedrals of Goa for the Smithsonian and her experience in Goa left her wanting to know more. “The place I’m going to is unique in India,” Mukerji said. “I know India pretty well, having lived there for so long, but this is Christian and Portuguese India—it’s very different.”

Besides the rich opportunity to explore the cultural influences in Goa, Mukerji is excited about how her film and media background will be put to good use. The International Film Festival of India has just made Goa its permanent home with the goal of becoming the Cannes of Asia. The anthropologist in Mukerji is anxious to observe the effect of this event on the local population. Part of her primary assignment at Goa University will be to help establish a curriculum in media and culture where such issues can be addressed intentionally.

Although she is happy to be returning to India, Mukerji admits to being completely “sappy” about being away from her students for most of next school year. “I wonder what I’m going to do without ‘my kids,’” she says. “I start thinking about having to say good-bye to the seniors, and not getting to meet the new freshman.” Her voice trails off. “I’m really going to miss PUC.”

Mukerji started teaching at PUC eight years ago and discovered that she loves teaching. When her documentary film class premiered a film last week, she talked about how proud she is to see her students’ accomplishments. “I thought the highest emotion, the proudest moment, would come from seeing my film completed,” she said. “But I was wrong. The proudest moment comes when you see students that you have helped nurture complete their projects."