For the last three years, Ohio University has been the top producer of Fulbright scholars in the state, ranking among the top 25 producers of scholars in the nation this year. The government-sponsored Fulbright Program provides scholarships for students to explore and study in other cultures around the world, according to the Web site http://exchanges.state.gov/education/fulbright/. For the 2005-06 academic year, OU produced nine Fulbright scholars, the most in the state, while Ohio State University produced seven. The year before, OU produced nine scholars, while OSU produced six.
OU has been sending students abroad for many years
but not with the success of the past few years said Josep Rota, associate provost of international programs in the Center for International Studies.
Of the 29 applicants for the 2006-07 academic year, 26 are students and three are alumni, said Elizabeth Clodfelter, assistant director for the Center for International Studies, adding that first-round finalists should be announced in about a month.
Rota named OU President Roderick McDavis's goal of making OU a nationally recognized institution as one reason for the increase in Fulbright scholars.
A combination of hard work by the Center for International Studies and OU's commitment to international studies also has led to more winners, said Timothy Anderson, a geography professor, adviser to applicants and a Fulbright scholar himself. Another reason for OU's success with Fulbright scholars is the faculty assistance, Clodfelter said.
There is a campus-wide effort to support these students she said. Faculty members have been very generous with their time
she said, adding that more than 130 faculty and staff members wrote recommendations, conducted on-campus interviews and administered foreign language evaluations for applicants. Encouraging students to apply for the program is not enough, Rota said. Students also need access to resources and programs and the assistance of faculty and advisers, he said.
Once we began to give (the Fulbright program) this level of priority
we went from having one or two (Fulbright scholars) to nine in the past three years
Rota said.
The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, does not advertise grant amounts, which vary and are dependent on the plans of the applicants, Clodfelter said.
They give people enough money to spend an academic year abroad where they want to go and do their projects
she said.
Although the application process varies, all applicants must submit a project statement, an intellectual autobiography, letters of recommendation and an online application, Clodfelter said.
After applicants go through a competitive process at their own university, they face two selection processes within the program, Rota said. First, the national Fulbright Program reviews the applications and keeps the best ones, which are then sent to the Fulbright program of the country in which the student wants to study, where the final recipients are chosen, Rota said.
Because the countries choose their winners at different times, the recipients are announced over a few months during the spring, Rota said.
Anderson, who studied the paths of 19th-century German immigrants to America at the University of Munster in Germany during his time as a Fulbright scholar from 1990 to 1991, said the experience was priceless.
I matured so much that year because I had to do all these things on my own
Anderson said, adding that living abroad made him question some of his own ideals and broaden his worldview. I learned as much about my own culture as I did about German culture
he said.
Fulbright scholars are afforded more opportunities, such as easier acceptance into graduate school, because of the prestige of the Fulbright name, Rota said.
After the Fulbright Program
nothing is impossible
he said.
