For the second consecutive year, Fordham University has been named by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the nation’s top-ranking research universities earning the highest number of Fulbright awards for U.S. students.
Fordham was ranked 18th among a select 30 research universities to earn double-digit Fulbright awards for the academic year 2009-2010. It tied with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with 13 awards each.
Northwestern University came in first with 32 awards. The University of Chicago finished second with 31 awards. This year’s results appeared in the Chronicle’s Oct. 19 issue.
Fordham has experienced a consistent increase in Fulbright awards in the last three years, climbing from nine in 2007, to 10 in 2008 and to 13 this year. A 14th award was offered to student Anthony Cotton, a graduate student in International Political Economy and Development and in economics in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, but he declined.
“The success of Fordham University students in winning a record number of Fulbrights this year is a wonderful endorsement of Father McShane’s vision of Fordham assuming its rightful place in the national and international academic world,” said John Kezel, Ph.D., director of the St. Edward Campion Institute for the Advancement of Academic Excellence. “It’s a great tribute to the dedicated collaboration of Fordham’s faculty and student body.”
This year’s 30 percent yield rate of 13 wins from 44 applicants was particularly high, too, said Kezel. He added that 22 Fordham students were chosen as finalists for the award—a showing that, he said, was stronger than many Ivy League schools.
To date, some 1,557 students out of 7,398 nationwide applicants have received Fulbright awards for the 2009-2010 year. The awards are sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and offer funded opportunities for yearlong research and study abroad.
Fordham’s 13 awardees will be traveling to nine countries. Three of the awardees are first-generation Americans. Nine awards were won by students or graduates of Fordham College at Lincoln Center; three awards by students or graduates of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and one award by a student at Fordham College at Rose Hill.
Fordham’s winners are:
• Anne Lieberman, FCLC ’09, an African and African-American studies major, awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Thailand for a project titled “Women in Muay Thai Boxing.”
• Veronica Mollere, FCLC ’09, a social work and visual arts major, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Thailand.
• Jennifer Chang Li, FCLC ’09, an international studies major, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Korea.
• Gary Gabor, a GSAS doctoral student, awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Belgium for “Boethius and the Transmission of Ancient Greek Logical Tradition.”
• Keeran Murphy, FCRH ’09, an English major, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Korea.
• Paloma Gutierrez, who has earned a master of arts in International Political Economy and Development from the GSAS, awarded a Fulbright Bi-National Business Grant to Mexico.
• Matt DeSoi, FCLC ’09, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany.
• Mark Nelson, FCLC ’09, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Vietnam.
• Madeline Felix, FCLC ’08, who earned her BA in theatre, awarded the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Vietnam.
• Andrew Henscheid, GSAS ’09, to Copenhagen, Denmark, to research “Love’s Authority: Søren Kierkegaard and the Question of Autonomy.”
• Allison Waid, FCLC ‘09, an international studies major, awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to China for “Independent and Unabashed: Young Rural Migrant Women Living Working and Dreaming in Wuhan, China.”
• Jessica Mahlbacher, FCLC ‘07, awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Hong Kong.
• Ali Musa, FCLC ‘09, a political science major, awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Jordan for a project titled “Structural Affinities Between Supranationalist Political Parties in Jordan.”
