OLLU professor and Fulbright Scholar Christopher Rose, PhD, is featured in a new video, “A Day in the Life of a Fulbrighter in Egypt.”

The video, 1 minute and 10 seconds in length, captures fascinating snapshots of the six months Dr. Rose spent in Cairo, Egypt as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 2023.

An Assistant History professor, world historian and researcher who speaks Arabic and Spanish, Dr. Rose poured through old newspapers in Cairo libraries, gathering information for his still-in-progress book, “Home Front Egypt: Famine, Disease and Death during the Great War.”

“I’m very flattered to be featured in the video,” Dr. Rose said. “The idea is to encourage more scholars to apply to Egypt and promote it as a destination for study and research.”

In Cairo, Dr. Rose researched the social and economic impact of World War I on the Egyptian population. Under British occupation, Egyptians were not allowed to fight. As a result, soldiers from Great Britain, South Africa, New Zealand and India arrived in Egypt.

“The troops needed to be fed,” Dr. Rose said. “They got the food from Egyptian farms at the expense of the Egyptian people. The Egyptians got sick and became malnourished. They struggled to make ends meet for their families. Some were pushed into desperate situations.” 

More than 100 years later, conditions have improved but economic challenges remain.

“The currency has been devalued 150 percent since November 2022, so people are hurting and it’s not easy to get items that are imported,” Dr. Rose said. “This summer, they’ve also started scheduling rolling blackouts for two to three hours to reduce the strain on the power grid, which I’m very happy to have missed!”

He hopes the Fulbright Scholar Award will attract more students to the history program, which includes professor Valerie Martinez, PhD., who won a National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Award in 2022. “We are both internationally recognized faculty,” Dr. Rose said. “I’d love to highlight the quality of scholarship we have going. We both teach undergraduate courses. You can study with us. I’m also a Fulbright Program adviser on campus. I’m hoping to encourage students and faculty to pursue study abroad options. And I’m working with students who are interested in applying for the Fulbright program.”