Since 2017, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ has been in the top two among undergraduate schools receiving Fulbright student fellowships, and has consistently ranked among the highest in the preceding two decades. In this most recent round, it was
Last spring, fourteen seniors and one alumnus received awards to do research, study, or teach for one year in Taiwan, Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Slovak Republic, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ seniors and alumni are eligible specifically for the .
“We are proud of every fellow and excited that they can draw upon the best of their ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ education to contribute to the common good as cultural ambassadors in their host countries,” said Cindy Stocks, director of Student Fellowships and Research at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾.
The is the US government's flagship international academic exchange program, creating “connections in a complex and changing world,” according to the State Department. It was founded soon after World War II, in 1946, “to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Part of the US Department of State, funding is provided by the federal government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide support to the program.
Fulbright Year Reflections, from two Former Fellows
Liam Nicoll ’18 originally received a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research in Jordan on public health. But he ended up instead working on a fledgling project for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to outfit teachers in refugee camps with remote technology, including Arabic Sesame Street, or Ahlan Simsim.
The children's program was broadcast in crowded refugee classrooms to help soothe and educate children traumatized by war. “I used Sesame Street as the only way to talk kids through grief, to teach the alphabet, to find the relative normalcy I was afforded growing up,” Nicoll said.
Today he works for IRC and is based in Washington, DC, where he develops artificial intelligence and emerging technology to boost international emergency responses and peace-building projects. His Fulbright year, he said, “gave me the time and space to be curious, and to explore different things I could do. It really pushed my boundaries on what is possible in a career and made me try things that are unconventional.”
Kiki Nakamura-Koyama ’17 taught English for a year on Bangka-Belitung, an Indonesian island off the coast of Sumatra. It was the first time the island had hosted a Fulbright fellow, and Nakamura-Koyama said she often found herself explaining America and Americans. She highlighted the diversity of values, perspectives, and cultures in the country.
She also worked to understand the culture she was living in. Her Fulbright experience “made me more open to other ideas, to learn how to hold back judgments while I tried to understand other people,” she said. “It's so important to burst whatever bubble you're in—whether it is social media or your college—and face the real diversity of opinions and thoughts.” This attitude is particularly important in the multicultural, pluralistic United States, she added.
Today she's an English teacher in New York City's Chinatown, at the High School of Dual Language and Asian Studies. Her Fulbright year continues to play out in her work, as she equips young people with facts and exposes them to different arguments, encouraging them to form their own interpretations. “It is so important for young people to develop their own opinions,” she said.
