Wheaton ranks among top 10 in Fulbrights for 2009

For the fifth consecutive year, Wheaton ranks among the top 10 baccalaureate colleges in the country in producing Fulbright Scholars.

In 2009, six students from Wheaton won Fulbright Scholarships, placing the college in a five-way tie for ninth place. The schools tied with Wheaton include Bowdoin, Occidental, University of Richmond and Williams colleges. The success of the top Fulbright-producing institutions was highlighted in the October 18th edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education (registration required).

The six Wheaton graduates studying and working on Fulbrights this year are Julia Bolt '08 who is analyzing the progress being made in the area of desegregation of the public school system in Bulgaria; Scott Clark '09, who holds a teaching assistantship at a teacher-training college in Argentina and is writing as a journalist; Jose Diaz '08, who is serving as an English teaching assistant in Spain; Megan O'Sadnick '09, who joined a research team at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) studying glaciers located on Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard; Blair Rosetti '09, who is conducting research in stem cell biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands; and Chelsey Taylor '08, who is teaching English in South Korea.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program equips future American leaders with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly global environment by providing funding for one academic year of study, research or assistant teaching abroad.

Fellows undertake self-designed programs in disciplines ranging from the social sciences, business, communication and performing arts to physical sciences, engineering and education. It is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. About 1,500 students and 1,300 scholars from the United States and abroad are studying and working on Fulbrights this academic year.

Started in 1946, the international academic-exchange program offers grants that are awarded by binational Fulbright commissions and financed by the U.S. government and the government of each country in which the awards are available. This year the United States contributed nearly $221 million to the fellowships.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Financial support is provided by an annual appropriation from Congress to the Department of State, with significant contributions from participating governments and host institutions in the United States and abroad. The Presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board formulates policy guidelines and makes the final selection of all grantees.

In the United States, the Institute of International Education administers and coordinates the activities relevant to the U.S. Student Program, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships.

Lists of Fulbright recipients and information about the award are available at www.fulbrightonline.org/us.