SALISBURY — Life-changing, cross-cultural experiences that Catawba alumna Anne Esterline Fogg of Durham had while she was a student at Catawba and while living abroad for 25 years have shaped her into the person she is today. She’s paying those experiences forward now by making an endowment gift to establish the Catawba Cross-Cultural Experience Award.

During the fall, members of the Catawba community made award applications according to criteria that Esterline Fogg herself helped to determine, and in mid-December, four individuals were announced as inaugural recipients of the award. These recipients will all undertake projects in the year ahead designed to share their own cross-cultural experiences with other members of the college community. The recipients include:

• Modern foreign languages Professor Marie Langhorne and assistant to Academic Affairs and the Ketner Center for International Studies Ann Clifton (jointly) — $750. Their project will explore the French language and culture on the Caribbean island of Martinique, with a view toward possibly establishing a foreign study program there for Catawba students.
• Theatre arts student Prentice Clark of Charleston, S.C. — $750. Her project, based on a recent mission trip to the Dominican Republic, will examine how to use music and theater to successfully communicate with students of any language or culture.
• Business administration student Rafal Baran of Trzebinia, Poland — $500. His project, based on a recent trip abroad to Turkey, will involve an upcoming summer internship in Madagascar.

Eleven applications for the award were received and reviewed by Esterline Fogg, Dr. Kurt Corriher, director of Catawba’s Center for International Studies (which administers the awards), Dr. Michael Bitzer, college provost, and Rex Otey, Catawba’s vice president for development. Even though the inaugural recipients’ projects are international in nature, Esterline Fogg stressed that cross-cultural experiences do not necessarily have to be international experiences.

“I can’t tell you how thrilled, excited and amazed I am that we received applications from faculty, staff and students willing to share their experiences with others,” Fogg said, noting she is anxious to meet the recipients in person. “It will be exciting to see what lessons they bring back.”