For the first time, Fordham has been named by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the nation’s top-ranked research universities earning the highest number of Fulbright awards for U.S. students.
Fordham was among a select 30 universities to earn double-digit Fulbright awards in 2008-2009. It tied Tufts University, the University of California at Davis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with 10 awards each.
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor earned 31 awards, the most of any institution, and Harvard finished second with 29 awards. Results appeared in the Chronicle’s Oct. 24 issue.
Fordham earned nine awards last year, falling just one shy of the annual ranking.
“To be ranked among the nation’s top-producing Fulbright programs has long been a goal for Fordham,” said Regina Plunkett-Dowling, Ph.D., Fordham’s Fulbright program adviser.
Plunkett-Dowling added that Fordham produced an “excellent yield rate,” with 10 students out of 32 applicants receiving awards. In contrast to Fordham’s yield of 31 percent, Michigan yielded 21.5 percent and Harvard yielded 27 percent.
Fordham also received an 11th award administered by the Fulbright program, but it did not qualify for the Chronicle count; the inaugural Serrano Scholarship went to Emiliano Reyes (CBA ’07) to attend the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.
The awardees, who will be traveling to four continents, represent three undergraduate and four graduate schools. In addition, five of the 11 awardees are first-generation Americans.
“Fordham has long promoted close collaboration among its faculty and students; now we see those efforts bearing fruit,” Plunkett-Dowling added.
