Dr. Tulasi Joshi, Professor of Geography at Fairmont State College, and a native of Nepal, was presented with the “Cyrus R. Vance Award” for International Education in West Virginia, USA recently, a statement said Wednesday.

Dr. Joshi received the award during a function at the West Virginia Cultural Center in Charleston by Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary of Education and the Arts, the statement said.

He was one of the 20 educators and educational organizations nominated for the award representing K-12 and postsecondary education from all parts of the state, according to the statement.

The award includes a unique Blenko-designed hand blown glass decanter and a $5,000 prize to be used to further the winner’s efforts in the promotion of international education and understanding.

“I am really overwhelmed. It was a total surprise,” Joshi said. “Receiving this honor makes me feel good about Fairmont State because it was the work of the institution that made this possible.”
”This is a win for the entire institution and others who helped me work for international education in West Virginia. Without their help, it would not have been possible.”

The Office of the Secretary of Education and the Arts of West Virginia
created the Cyrus R. Vance Award in 2001 to recognize exemplary educators and educational organizations in the field of international education and to honor the life of Vance, a Clarksburg native and former U.S. Secretary of State whose extraordinary career in diplomacy and public service spanned six decades.

Joshi has been a professor at Fairmont State for more than 30 years,
covering a variety of international topics. He is a member of the West Virginia Consortium for Faculty and Course Development in International Studies (FACDIS), National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, Association of Nepalis in the Americas (ANA), and Association of Nepalese in Midwest America (ANMA). He was selected to participate in special programs of FACDIS and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

He has served as a member of the FSC International Education Committee since 1973; for some of those years he was chairman. He was instrumental in the establishment of the international student scholarship program and International Week observed on campus every year.

He received his Master’s degrees from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and the University of Hawaii, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of
Pittsburgh.

In 1989, Joshi, helped establish the Nepal Scholarship Program at Fairmont State. In 1991, Joshi arranged the annual international convention of the Association of Nepalis in America (ANA) at Fairmont State attended by more than 300 participants including Nepal’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nepali communities and friends of Nepal in America including ANA have supported the Nepal Scholarship Program. Currently, there are 22 Nepali students attending Fairmont State. At present, he is the chairperson of ANA’s scholarship committee and the coordinator of the Nepal scholarship program at Fairmont State.