The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs. During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.
Congratulations to UConn’s 2015-16 grant recipients!
Rebecca D’Angelo (’14) – has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant to Norway. A graduate of UConn Honors program (BA, History & Anthropology) with a minor in Creative Writing, she currently works as a Programming Assistant with the Honors Programming & Events office at UConn. Drawing on her background in American Studies and creative writing, Rebecca is looking forward to mentoring Norwegian secondary school and university students, sharing American culture and experiencing polar nights. Upon completion of her Fulbright year, she plans on teaching in a secondary school while pursuing an MFA in creative writing.
Dasal Jashar (Ph.D., Psychology) – has been offered a Fulbright Research grant to India. Dasal’s research project will examine parents’, teachers’ and health care providers’ knowledge of autism in the Tibetan community in Dharamsala, in northern India. In particular, she is interested in the role that culture plays in the presentation, screening and diagnosis of autism in this community. While there she also plans to teach English and, with her research findings, to publish a pamphlet on Autism Spectrum Disorder which is specific to the needs and beliefs of the Tibetan community.
Erin Puglia (Political Science, ‘17) is the recipient of a Fulbright UK Summer Institute award to study at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Erin has a deep interest in women and politics and will have the opportunity to learn about Northern Ireland in terms of its political, economic and cultural relationships with the UK and in the world. She will join a group of international students in lectures and tours that will focus on the nature of conflict in a four-week program at the university.
Timothy Ravis (MA, Geography) – has been offered a Fulbright Research grant to Indonesia. Tim will be studying the implementation of Indonesia’s spatial planning law 26/2007 across three sites – Bandung, Yogyakarta and Balkpapan – to understand the effects of political decentralization on metropolitan planning. An experienced traveler in Southeast Asia and Europe, upon completion of his Fulbright project, Tim will enter a doctoral program in urban planning with the goal of becoming a professor of international urban planning and continuing the conversation between the East and West.
Natalie Vieira (Resource Economics ’15) – has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant to Bulgaria. Natalie is an honors student from Wolcott, CT who plans to study public policy and work in the public sector on improving conditions for marginalized populations. She spent a semester interning for Senator Christopher Murphy in Washington D.C. and has since been serving as the program ambassador for the Honors Congressional Internship in DC. Natalie will draw upon her experiences in the public sector and community service to share American culture while teaching English at the Aleko Konstantinov Foreign Language School in Pravets, Bulgaria and to work with the students on service projects in the local community.
Kamryn Warren (Ph.D., Sociology) – has been offered a Fulbright Research grant to Nepal. Kamryn will undertake an ethnographic study of refugee camps, refugees and humanitarian groups to understand how bureaucratic practices shape refugees’ transnational ties. In addition to her research project, she will be volunteering as an English language instructor with CARITAS Nepal in the Beldagi refugee camp. Kamryn’s career goals aim to unite her research interests with continuing work in human rights.
Tanisha Williams (Ph.D, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology) – has been offered a Fulbright Research Grant to South Africa. Her research focuses on the relationship between plant traits and environments to assess how variation in phenotype will determine adaptability to changing climates in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR). In addition, she will volunteer with the non-profit organization SEED, which promotes outdoor biology learning for primary school children and in the community food garden projects in the Mitchell’s Plain area of the Cape Flats. Upon completion of her doctoral program, Tanisha aims to integrate research with science policymaking and to mentor underrepresented students in the STEM fields.
Christina Wilson (Ph.D., English) – has been offered a Fulbright Archival Research grant to Ireland. Christina will be spending six months analyzing materials from the Abbey Theatre Digital Archive in the James Hardiman Library at the National University of Ireland Galway. She will examine materials related to Sam Shepard, the American playwright who was worked extensively at the Abbey Theatre, to complete her dissertation titled, “Scots-Irish Frontiers Across 20th and 21st century American Literature.” While there, she plans to volunteer in Galway’s theatre scene and engage with local culture.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Fulbright U.S. Student Grant program or the Fulbright UK Summer Institute program, contact UConn’s Fulbright Program Advisor, LuAnn Saunders-Kanabay, at luann.saunders-kanabay@uconn.edu.