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Paul Fogleman
Office of the Vice President for International Affairs
pfoglema@indiana.edu
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Last modified: Thursday, January 13, 2011

IU students well represented among international fellowship and scholarship recipients

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 13, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Students from Indiana University Bloomington received more than 35 nationally competitive awards that sent them to study in countries around the world last summer and during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The awards are sponsored by a number of agencies including the Departments of State and Education, the National Security Education Program (NSEP), the Marshall and Rhodes programs of the United Kingdom, the American Scandinavian Foundation and the German-American Exchange Service. The majority of the grantees are pursuing research projects in a range of disciplines around the world while other awards fund participation in guided programs such as language training, academic study abroad or working as an English teaching assistant.

Brendan Faegre

Brendan Faegre (left) from the IU Jacobs School of Music works with Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Among the research award grantees are nine recipients of Fulbright Hays and Fulbright U.S. Student grants that are sponsored, respectively, by the Department of Education and the Department of State. Fulbright Hays grantees conduct dissertation research in countries outside of Western Europe. The destinations for this year's recipients are Mali, Russia, South Africa, Ghana and Israel. Two Fulbright U.S. Student recipients are currently conducting research in Morocco and Germany, and another will start teaching English in Argentina this month.

Research awards granted to IU students also include NSEP-sponsored Boren Fellowships to Brazil and Syria, an American Scandinavian Foundation fellowship to Norway, German-American Exchange Service awards to Germany, an American Councils award to Russia, an IREX research grant to former Yugoslavian countries and a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to South Africa.

Other activities of student award recipients support intensive language training or directed study programs. Eight IU students received State Department-sponsored Critical Language Scholarships during the summer of 2010. These graduate and undergraduate students traveled to countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia and India to participate in intensive study in languages critical to the United States including Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Hindi and Russian.

Other recipients of directed grants include 13 undergraduates who received Gilman and Boren Scholarships which support a semester or a full academic year of study abroad in countries outside of Western Europe.

Indiana University students are consistently represented in top competitions for scholarships to universities in the United Kingdom. William Yu was named one of 40 Marshall Scholars and is currently in his second year of study in the United Kingdom pursuing degrees at the Imperial College of London. Two IU students have also recently been named Rhodes Scholars. Mutsa Mutembwa was named a 2010 scholar and is currently at the University of Oxford, and Esther Uduehi was named a scholar for 2011.

"We honor the hard work and determination exhibited by these students and congratulate them on their accomplishments," said Patrick O'Meara, IU vice president of international affairs. "These students bring back detailed research results that advance their respective disciplines. Their extensive periods spent abroad and increased language abilities contribute to our collective efforts to better understand and interact with other cultures."

Below is a list of IU students awarded international grants from summer 2010 through the current academic year. The list is ordered alphabetically by name of award and includes name, primary course of study and destination country.

American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Award
Joanna Matuszak -- Art History, Russia

American Scandinavian Foundation
Brendan Faegre -- Music Composition, Norway

Boren Fellowships
Gregory Auclair -- Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Syria
Timothy Thompson -- Library and Information Science, Brazil

Boren Scholarships
Bethany Muncy -- East Asian Languages and Cultures, Japan
Luke Martineac -- Business, China

Critical Language Scholarships (for intensive language study during summer 2010)
Lennea Carty -- Central Eurasian Studies, Turkey (Turkish)
John Dechant -- Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Tajikistan (Persian)
Jessica Evans -- Folklore and Ethnomusicology, India (Hindi)
Jamie Johnson -- Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Egypt (Arabic)
Nicholas Kontovas -- Central Eurasian Studies, Turkey (Turkish)
Niels Lee -- History, Turkey (Turkish)
Christopher Roush -- Russian and East European Studies, Russia (Russian)
Anne Vithayathil -- History, Tajikistan (Persian)

Fulbright U.S. Student Awards
Jacqueline Cornetta -- English Teaching Assistant, Argentina
Ahmed Khanani -- Political Science, Morocco
Joel Klein -- Cultural and Intellectual History, Germany

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Awards
Jessica Hurd -- Art History, Mali
Joanna Matuszak -- Art History, Russia
Megan Musgrave -- History, Russia
Fileve Palmer -- Anthropology, South Africa
Fred Pratt -- History, Ghana
Karen Ross -- Education, Israel

German American Exchange Service Awards (DAAD)
Joo Hyung Kim -- Political Science, Germany
Sibyl Kleiner -- Sociology, Germany

Gilman Scholarships
Kayla Douglas -- African American and African Diaspora Studies, Ghana
Olivia Holloway -- Arts and Sciences, Brazil
Jamie Johnson -- Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Jordan
Justin Martinson -- Communication and Culture, Germany
Bethany Muncy -- East Asian Languages and Cultures, Japan
David Osborn -- Business, Ghana
Genevieve Postlethwait -- Journalism, China
Olivia Schmidt -- Biology, Italy
Richard Scinteie -- Communication and Culture, Spain
Emily Spiegel -- Sport Marketing and Management, South Africa
Chelsea Todd -- International Studies, Brazil

IREX Individual Advanced Research Grant
Ramajana Hidic-Demirovic -- History, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship
Fileve Palmer -- Anthropology, South Africa