OSU was awarded a grant from USDA to host five Norman Borlaug Fellows from Tunisia and Algeria, or a five-week summer program. The Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program honors Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, who has often been hailed as the father of the Green Revolution. The program helps developing countries strengthen sustainable agricultural practices by providing short-term scientific training and collaborative research opportunities to visiting researchers, policymakers and university faculty while they work with a mentor.

While at OSU, the five scholars will have an opportunity to meet with some of the new leaders in agricultural science, and work with their colleagues on projects ranging from discussions on international treaties to preserve biodiversity to taking the fingerprints of plants with sophisticated gene mapping tools. The five participants include Kacem Chammakhi, Head of the Plant Variety Registration and Protection Department of Tunisia, Souad Mahmoud, Head of Tunisia's Quarantine Laboratory, Khalifa Agran, Head of Tunisia's Official Service of Seeds and Nursery Plants Certification, Nadjia Zermane, a professor of plant pathology and weed science at the Algerian Institut National Agronomique, and Atika Benbernou, Chief of Office of Veterinary Services in Algeria.

OSU has extensive experience in Tunisia and North Africa, dating back to 1980 and continuing today. OSU work has included developing dryland farming systems, increasing rangeland productivity through management techniques, improving extension services in Central Tunisia, building computer-based language learning laboratories at University of Tunis, extensive English Language teaching, linkages between university libraries, and curriculum development that includes environmental perspectives.

The program will help OSU strengthen its connections to a vital part of the world, and create long-lasting professional linkages that will help internationalize our learning community.