Eleven Tufts students were chosen for the prestigious Fulbright scholars program this year, maintaining Tufts' performance in previous years.
Secretary of State Colin Powell released the final Fulbright scholars list for this year on Oct. 15.
This year, there were a total of 1,099 scholarship winners from the United States for both Fulbright programs - one for teaching English as a foreign language, the other for a research project of the applicants' own design.
Five Tufts graduates received teaching scholarships and six Tufts graduates received research
scholarships.
"Applying for a Fulbright Scholarship is very competitive because of the prestige that is attached to the name Fulbright," Tufts Coordinator of Scholarship and Enrichment Programs Kate Nash said.
The Tufts graduates who won Fulbright awards are Molly Blank (who will go to South Africa), John Francis (Austria), Joanna Friedman (Senegal), Hyosil Hwang (South Korea), Vinita Kamath (India), Angela Lee (Taiwan), Abigail Noble (Uruguay), Kristin Roslonski (Germany), Adeline Sutphen (New Zealand), Valerie Wencis (France), and Christina Zahara (South Korea).
Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser said Tufts' "strong International Relations (IR) Program and the large number of students with international bent gives us a great pool of prospective Fulbright candidates, and it's not surprising that we do so well in that very competitive but very enriching program."
In the last academic year, Tufts produced 11 scholars. Before then, Tufts had 12 scholars in both the 2001-02 and 2002-03 academic years.
Nash agrees with Glaser's explanation of the high numbers of Tufts students who win Fulbright scholarships. Additionally, she said the University's language requirements and global perspective also give Tufts an added edge.
Students too attribute their Fulbright awards to their time at Tufts. "I am here right now in part because of the opportunities I had through the University College," said Zahara, who will go on to teach English in South Korea.
Applicants say the Fulbright teaching grants are excellent post-graduate opportunities. "The Fulbright Teaching Assistantship is an excellent opportunity for both the passionate academic and the indecisive academic," Roslonski said.
"If you have a passion for teaching, Fulbright is for you. If you have no idea what you want to do with your life after graduation, Fulbright is for you."
Forty Tufts students filed Fulbright applications in October for the 2005-06 scholarships, according to Nash. Tufts will learn in January how many students have advanced to the next round of the competition, she said.
"It's really important for students, especially ones who spend part of their junior year abroad, to have the Fulbright Program in the back of their minds early on," Nash said. "One of the most important parts of the application is having solid contacts to the country to which you are
applying."
The Fulbright Program, with an annual operating budget in excess of $100 million, is primarily funded by appropriations from the U.S. Congress. Foreign governments and international educational institutions also bear part of the financial burden through direct monetary donations and offers of tuition waivers and housing opportunities.
The Congressional appropriation for the Fulbright Program in 2003 was $122.9 million, with foreign contributions adding $28 million to the program's endowment.
"At a time when the world is so endangered by lack of understanding, the Fulbright Scholar Program is a beacon of hope," said Dr. Patti McGill Peterson, executive director of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars.
She said the competitive nature of the scholarship "underlines the value of the program to America's international relationships and also to Americans' understanding of other nations."
Since the program's inception more than half a century ago, it has provided opportunities for nearly 1,000 U.S. students a year to research and teach abroad.
Past Fulbright grantees have included Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, Supreme Court justices, CEOs, and heads of state. The Fulbright program has over 100,000 American alumni and over a quarter-million alumni worldwide.
"This program would be one of the few that would provide advanced training to [individuals] who would return to their own country with increased skills and continued opportunities for international collaboration in both research and training projects," Professor Stuart Schwartz of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School said.
Upon proposing the scholarship program to Congress in 1946, Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright said, "The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship."
