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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Nineteen IU Bloomington students win Fulbright grants for 2005-06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUG. 16, 2005

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Adam W. Herbert announced today (Aug. 16) that 19 IU graduate students -- six more than last year -- have received prestigious IIE-Fulbright or Fulbright-Hays grants, both funded through major federal grant programs, for the 2005-06 academic year.

"IU has long been fortunate to have so many students chosen to participate in Fulbright grant programs," Herbert said. "But we are especially pleased by the large number of IU students selected this year. This impressive record of accomplishment reflects the high quality of our student body, faculty and academic programs."

Founded in 1946 by the late Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program for U.S. Students aims to increase understanding of American culture and values through scholarly exchanges of knowledge and skills.

"This group of outstanding IU Fulbright scholars will teach and perform important innovative research in countries throughout the world," Herbert said. "They will be great ambassadors for the ideals of Indiana University and Senator Fulbright by building mutual trust and cultural understanding through education."

The IIE-Fulbright Program is an exchange program funded through the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Institute of International Education. Its grants are given to graduating college seniors to teach in certain fields and to advanced graduate students to continue further study, conduct research or obtain professional training toward their terminal degrees. Nationwide, approximately 4,500 students apply annually, and about 1,100 awards are granted.

At IU Bloomington, 62 students applied for the IIE-Fulbright grant and 13 received the award. Three of the 13 declined in order to accept other awards, two of them being Fulbright-Hays grants described below. IIE-Fulbright award amounts vary from country to country but average upwards of $20,000.

Separate from the IIE-Fulbright Program, the Fulbright-Hays Program's Doctoral Dissertation Award is funded through the U.S. Department of Education and was established in 1961 when the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange (Fulbright-Hays) Act was enacted. It is given to support dissertation research in modern foreign languages and area studies in non-Western European countries and is especially competitive. Nationwide, about 400 students apply annually, and approximately 140 awards are granted annually.

At IU Bloomington, 17 students applied during the 2005-06 competition and eight students received awards. This year's award amounts for IU recipients varied between $17,000 and $43,000.

IU students who received U.S. Department of State IIE-Fulbright grants and a brief description of their projects follow:

• Sarah Atterson, English, Russia -- To teach English in Russia on a teaching assistantship, while improving Russian language skills and knowledge of Russian culture.
• Nathan Giem, Music (Violin), The Netherlands -- To study advanced solo and orchestral works at the Hogeschool voor de Kunst in Amsterdam.
• Colleen Haas, Ethnomusicology, Brazil -- To analyze the creative agency of cultural leaders in music production and performance in Salvador Bahia, using ethnographic processes, performance theory and social phenomenology.
• Tanya Hayes, Political Science, Honduras -- To examine how local communities respond to agricultural expansion and illicit timber harvesting in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve.
• John Howell, Music (Voice), Australia -- To study and compile an annotated bibliography and catalog of the little-known literature of Australian classical songs.
• Michael A. Jones, Music (Bassoon), Australia -- To study bassoon performance at the Sydney Conservatorium and teach bassoon via distance education to students in rural areas.
• Thor Mednick, Art History, Denmark -- To explore ways in which the nationalist movement in Denmark had a critical effect on the development of a group of artists that emerged in the 1890s. Note: Declined IIE-Fulbright award to accept an American Scandinavian Foundation award.
• Lyndsay Miles, Slavics, Russia -- To conduct research on economic cooperation between the Russian Far East and the U.S. Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Alaska, with an emphasis on U.S. investment in small- and medium-sized companies.
• Christopher Sapp, Germanic Studies, Austria -- To conduct dissertation research at the University of Vienna on the development of word order in subordinate clauses from Old High German to Modern German.
• Melissa Schnyder, Political Science, European Union -- To conduct research on how alliances formed by pro-migrant organizations can achieve policy goals that may serve to deepen European Union integration in the migrant inclusion policy sector.
• Wolodymyr Smishkewych, Music (Musicology), Spain -- To complete research documenting the history of the hurdy-gurdy in Spain, integrating archival materials and cultural and ethnographic research.

IU students who received Fulbright-Hays grants and a brief description of their projects follow:

• Bryn Bakoyema, Anthropology, Uganda -- To compare the relationship between migration and forest use by exploring the cultural, biophysical and institutional factors that affect land use decision making near forest reserves in Central Uganda.
• Sue-Je Gage, Anthropology, South Korea -- To conduct research on understanding the identities Amerasians and other ethnically mixed Koreans claim and those that are ascribed to them in South Korea, drawing on the theoretical aspects of "nationness" and displacement, identity ascription and assertion.
• Michael E. Jones, Education Policy, Thailand -- To understand how local input toward educational reform in developing nations interacts with global and transitional forces to result in specific reforms.
• Angela Martin, Anthropology, Zambia -- To examine how changes in land distribution and use among Gwembe Tonga migrants are affecting household structure and the cooperative behavior of co-wives.
• Michelle Metro-Roland, Geography, Hungary -- To explore the process of "reading" the landscape by gauging how tourists establish the boundaries of the tourist-bubble and how they determine cultural uniqueness about spaces when their experience is unmediated.
• Elizabeth Perrill, Art History, South Africa -- To conduct research on ceramics made by Zulu-speaking artists, with the aim of constructing a timeline of events and sales sites that have transformed the aesthetics of these artists. Note: Also accepted an International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council to be used concurrently with the Fulbright-Hays. Note: Declined IIE-Fulbright award to accept Fulbright-Hays award.
• Kate Schroeder, History, Namibia and Germany -- To examine how those involved in interracial marriages contested the German settler definitions of race, citizenship and gender in German Südwest Afrika, and how their constructions of family influenced this challenge and affected Africans and Germans. Note: Declined IIE-Fulbright award to accept Fulbright-Hays award.
• Cullen Strawn, Ethnomusicology, Mali -- To investigate Mande concepts and experiences of uncertainty in music performance and hunting within the lives of musicians and hunters.

The Indiana University Office of International Programs disseminates information on these Fulbright grants and other external grant opportunities for graduate students.

For further information on these grants, the process for application and assistance with application, contact Rose Vondrasek, OIP program associate and student Fulbright program adviser; Franklin Hall 315; telephone 812-855-7557; e-mail rvondras@indiana.edu.

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