Laima Karosas, the chair of Graduate Nursing Programs at Quinnipiac University received the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award for the 2024-25 academic year.

The $28,300 award will be used to teach and conduct research at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.

Karosas needed to apply for the award, and she was one of four recipients. She described it as “very competitive,” and she needed recommendations from people in the U.S.

“Fulbright Scholar Awards comprise the bulk of awards offered and include opportunities for professionals, artists and scholars at all career levels. Location and eligibility vary across all awards, and some awards may be restricted to certain career levels or types of scholars,” according to the Fulbright Scholar Program website.

“(My project) is specified as 75% teaching 25% research,” Karosas said.

The research conducted by Karosas will be on scope of practice for advanced practice nursing.

Karosas says there are not enough positions for graduate students to work in advanced practice nursing, and she wants to investigate what is closing those doors.

“So we’re going to be looking at that like how this (was) implemented. What are the barriers … Or what exactly is preventing them from doing this?” Karosas said. “So that’s the piece of research that I’d really like to get done. And they’re and they’re looking forward to that too, because there’s a lot of people (who) want to know that answer, yeah.”

She will be in Lithuania for six months, beginning on Jan. 28, according to Quinnipiac Today.

“I’ve taught there before, but never, like for this long of a time,” Karosas said.

Karosas’s parents are Lithuanian, and she speaks the language fluently.

“It makes it much easier to teach when you are fluent in English and the native language,” Karosas said.

Though most students speak English, Karosa says people have a hard time comprehending what she says.

“(Sometimes) I speak too fast, and I need to slow it down for them and they’re used to the British pronunciation, so there might be a little bit (of) difficulty, because I’m American,” Karosas said.

Karosas said that, opposed to the U.S., a lot of teaching in Lithuania is lecture based where students don’t participate as much.

“When I teach, even when I lecture, I do want students to participate, which is different for them,” Karosas said. “They’re used to sitting there and listening, yeah? So when I ask them a question or whatever, they kind of look at me like, ‘Are you really asking us?’ Like, yeah, I’m really asking you. I want somebody to answer this.”

Prior to her arrival at Quinnipiac, Karosas worked as a nurse practitioner and later taught for a few years at Fairfield University. She continues to work as a nurse practitioner, but now in Telehealth.

During her time at Quinnipiac, Karosas taught at the School of Nursing.

“I was the track coordinator for the Adult Nurse Practitioner track, and then became the chair, and then became the director of both tracks and then became the chair,” Karosas said. “So I was a chair for graduate nursing for like, nine years. Now I’m back to faculty again, which is great.”

Karosas described how Quinnipiac has changed over the time she’s been teaching. She said that it has grown “tremendously,” and neither the York Hill Campus or School of Medicine existed.

“I mean, when I came to Quinnipiac, we had less than 50 nursing students, I think 13 graduate students, and that was it. Now we have over 1,100 graduate and undergraduate students,” Karosas said. “When I came to Quinnipiac, I think there was a total of 12 faculty … and now we have over 50 for faculty and staff.”

Karosas also noted the U.S. and Lithuania have historically exchanged knowledge relating to nursing, especially in the aftermath of World War I and World War II. She is a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and is certified as an adult nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner.