Nineteen students and recent graduates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants. The grants are for self-designed research and study projects or to teach English abroad during the 2014-2015 academic year. This is the highest number of Fulbright grants awarded to UNC students in a single year, and includes 17 students within the College of Arts and Sciences.
The students study a diverse array of fields at Carolina, including biomedical engineering, computer science and musicology. With a Fulbright, they will complete projects as varied as studying soybean farming in Brazil, studying species conservation in Mongolia and teaching English in Malaysia. Overall, Carolina students will leave their mark in 13 countries across the globe over the next year.
The students receive funding for travel, health insurance and a monthly stipend to cover living expenses during the 9- to 12-month grant period. They passed a rigorous yet holistic selection process. “Selection committees seek applicants who come from many backgrounds and with a variety of past experience. They’re looking for students for whom a Fulbright will be deeply meaningful and perhaps career-changing,” said Tripp Tuttle, Fulbright program adviser at the UNC Center for Global Initiatives.
This flagship international educational exchange program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Fulbright is administered nationally by the Institute of International Education and through the Center for Global Initiatives at UNC. Designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and international communities, the program operates in more than 155 countries.
Current students interested in applying for 2015-2016 must meet a September 19, 2014 campus deadline.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program 2014-2015 grant winners who applied through UNC appear below by North Carolina county or U.S. state.
North Carolina Counties
Ashe County
Linden Wait, a 2014 graduate from West Jefferson, will teach English in Indonesia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in global studies and political science with a minor in Arabic.
Dare County
Carson Fish, a 2014 graduate from Kitty Hawk, will teach English in Russia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Slavic languages and literatures with a minor in comparative literature.
Durham County
Lucas Edmond, a 2014 graduate from Durham, will teach English in India. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies and economics.
Mecklenburg County
Matthew Farley, a 2014 graduate from Charlotte, will teach English in Taiwan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies and peace, war and defense with a minor in classical humanities.
Orange County
Trevor Erlacher, a current doctoral candidate in history from Carrboro, will conduct fieldwork in Ukraine for his dissertation titled, “Ukrainian Nationalist Radical: The Life, Thought, and Milieus of Dmytro Dontsov, 1883-1991.”
Wake County
Amanda Baldiga, a 2014 graduate from Apex, will teach English in Malaysia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and women’s studies with a minor in social and economic justice.
Eli Hornstein, a 2014 graduate from Raleigh, will conduct research in Mongolia on species conservation from a human perspective. He earned a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from UNC and high distinction in biology from Duke.
U.S. States
Alabama
Matthew Feminella, a current doctoral candidate in Germanic languages and literatures from Auburn, will conduct fieldwork in Germany for his dissertation titled, “Caught in the Act: Acting Paradigms and Spontaneous Expressions in the Age of Goethe.”
Florida
Chris Bowen, a current doctoral candidate in musicology from Miami, will conduct conduct archival research in the Czech Republic for his dissertation titled, “‘We Shall Remain Faithful’: Gender, Nationalism, and the Village Mode in Czech Opera, 1866-1916.”
Maryland
Meg VanDeusen, a 2014 graduate from Baltimore, will teach English in Malaysia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and women’s studies with a minor in education.
Massachusetts
Abigail Poeske, a 2013 graduate from Beverly, will teach English in Ukraine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in middle grades education with minors in history and geography.
New York
Philip Delvecchio, a 2014 graduate from Rochester, will teach English in Taiwan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a minor in Chinese.
Pennsylvania
Louis Porter, a current doctoral candidate in history from Carrboro, will conduct fieldwork in Russia for his dissertation titled, “A Better World in the Minds of Comrades: The Soviet Union in UNESCO, 1954-1982.”
South Dakota
Andrew Ofstehage, a current doctoral candidate in anthropology from Vermillion, will conduct fieldwork in Brazil for his dissertation titled, “North Americans in Soylandia: An Ethnography of Transnational Agrarianism.”
Texas
Zoe Wolszon, a 2014 graduate from Austin, will teach English in South Korea. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.
Washington
Cameron Knieb, a 2014 graduate from Shoreline, will research the impact of polio immunization on routine health initiatives in rural India. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with minors in Chinese and entrepreneurship.
John Schmale, a 2014 graduate from Kirkland, will teach English in South Korea. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Tennessee
Lacey English, a 2014 graduate from Knoxville, will study the treatment of malnutrition in children in Sierra Leone. She earned a master’s of public health degree in health behavior and health education.*
Sonya Khattak, a 2014 graduate from Memphis, will teach English in Turkey. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and global studies with a minor in Arabic.
*The U.S. Department of Education and IIE have delayed Fulbright departures to Sierra Leone due to current travel restrictions but will support travel when public health circumstances allow.
