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Drake students and alumni receive Fulbright grants

Drake students and alumni receive Fulbright grants

One current Drake student and two recent Drake graduates have been named Fulbright grant recipients for the 2012–2013 academic year. Two other Drake students were named as alternates.

“Having Fulbright scholars from Drake is a great reputation booster,” says Eleanor Zeff, associate professor of politics and international relations and director of the Fulbright program at Drake. “These students serve as ambassadors for both Drake and the United States; people hear about Drake and see that our students are nationally competitive.”

This year’s Fulbright class ties for the largest number of students from Drake to receive Fulbright grants in an academic year. Zeff says the number of students coming to her for grant application assistance grows each year.

The 2012 recipients are:

  • Kate Albrecht, AS’05, GR’11, will be an English teaching assistant in Poland.
  • Lindsay Whorton, currently a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, will pursue her doctorate in education and labor relations in Finland.
  • Anna DeVries, politics and international relations double major, will be an English teaching assistant in Indonesia.

Lisa Scott, AS’11, and Amina Kader, an international relations major, are alternates to teach English in South Korea and Oman, respectively.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchange,” according to the preamble of the legislation that created the program. The program awards approximately 1,700 student grants per year, selecting scholars based on the strength of the student’s application and the needs of the country.