April 7, 2004 Print this page

Senior Jason Ager Receives Fulbright Scholarship
to Study in Austria

Good news can be shocking, but Huntington Valley resident Jason Ager was really shocked when he read a three-page letter notifying him he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Vienna.

“I was actually unsure as to whether I really got it,” says Ager, a senior at La Salle University. “I had to reread the letter a few times to see if they were saying what I thought they were saying. I am still reeling. It hasn’t really dawned on me yet.”

A double major in English and German, Ager looks forward to the excitement of studying in Vienna for a year, with a possibility of two additional years of study. He will enroll at the University of Vienna and teach English to Austrian high school students.

For the Fulbright process, he produced a 55-page paper about the late Austrian Jewish writer Leo Perutz’s influence on contemporary Viennese writer Doron Rabinovici. Ager conducted his research and wrote the report as his Honors project essay. Dr. Vincent Kling, a La Salle English professor, worked with him to develop the project.

“He’s fantastic,” Ager says of Kling. “He’s an incredibly learned man and a great moderator in that field of study. He publishes so much and gives so many lectures [concerning Austrian literature] that he was definitely the man to have.”

Ager had to present his work before a board interview, in which five La Salle faculty members, who are commissioned by the Fulbright committee, rate a student’s understanding of a foreign language on a scale of one through five.

“It was daunting,” Ager says. “I wasn’t expecting to have to speak as much German as I did. It was difficult.”

He has already begun making plans to continue his research on Perutz and Rabinovici.
His work has impressed many around the La Salle community, especially Kling.

“Jason’s work attracted the notice of the leading scholar in the field, Professor Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, who has invited Jason to join his graduate seminar in Vienna,” says Kling. “He has also received a second invitation, this time from Doron Rabinovici, to attend a conference later this month in Houston.”

“Jason did extensive and sophisticated research on the compelling topic of how the Jewish heritage from the Prague ghetto has endured as a force in contemporary Austrian literature,” says Kling. “This great distinction is the result of excellent effort by Jason; it is highly deserving, and it reflects very well on La Salle University.”

Despite all of the good news, Ager still has some fears about this prestigious opportunity.

“I don’t like to fly,” says Ager, “but beyond that I’m excited.”

Since high school, Ager has taken eight years of German. But the idea of teaching Austrian students who might ask questions in German worries him.

“My language ability is as good as you can get studying in this country. But I will be teaching a class and it might be challenging to teach students and answer their questions because of the language barrier,” says Ager. “However, I will have time beforehand to prepare, and they offer a good support program.”

Ager is the 52nd La Salle student to receive a Fulbright Scholarship since 1965. After he completes his Austrian experience, he plans earn his Ph.D. and to become a teacher.

-- Jordan Burke