GCC prof leading ‘Color Connection’ project in Mexico as Fulbright Scholar
Press Release, Genesee Community College
Heather Jones
BATAVIA – Genesee Community College is pleased to announce that Heather Jones, professor of Fine Arts, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Mexico for the 2023-2024 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
While collaborating with Professor Jose Luis Gonzalez-Cabrero and the Industrial Design Department at the University of San Luis Potosi, Professor Jones will be implementing an international cultural color study project with students from both Mexico and New York, which will culminate with a student art exhibit titled “Color Connection.”
She will be teaching a series of seminars on color theory in Mexico, that will be available online for her students taking classes at GCC. Students in Mexico and GCC will photograph one color in their daily lives and facilitate conversation online by sharing these images on the dedicated Color Connection social media pages.
The goal of the project is to take a deeper look at the expressive meaning of color in design, utilize the subject of color as a social bridge to break down cultural stigmas, and reinforce empathy and respect for cultural diversity. Photographs will be juried by the students and 100-plus photographs will be exhibited simultaneous at UASLP and in GCC’s Roz Steiner Gallery during March 2024. The exhibit will then be available to travel to other SUNY campus galleries.
Jones is among over 800 U.S. citizens who will teach or conduct research abroad for the 2023-2024 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.
“Congratulations to Professor Heather Jones on receiving the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award,” said Dr. Craig Lamb, provost/vice president for Academic Affairs at GCC. “Her innovative project, ‘Color Connection,’ will foster cultural understanding and empathy through the expressive power of color. We are proud to have such accomplished faculty members like Professor Jones who exemplify the spirit of international collaboration and contribute to finding solutions for our global challenges.”
Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.
Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.
