     |
|
Centrepiece Online | Summer/Winter 2000
|
|
Their Future's So Bright
Their Fulbright stipend provides international transportation, living expenses, and, for research grants, university tuition. But according to Centre's previous winners, the awards often bring unanticipated results, as well. "I got a letter published in the Economist," says Rob Alford '96 with a laugh. A German and economics major, he spent his year in Germany studying the European Central Bank. More seriously, he believes that having the Fulbright award on his resume played a "crucial role" in the next stage of his career, getting into Harvard Business School. April Boulton Amberman '94 wouldn't trade her year in another country for anything. "My Fulbright experience completely changed my life and career," she says. A psychology and classical studies major at Centre, she was set to go into experimental psychology. However, after her Fulbright in Barbados studying the damage vervet monkeys do to crops, she changed her focus to ecology. "I realized I preferred research outdoors," she says and is now finishing her Ph.D. at the University of California Davis. The Fulbright program dates to 1946, when Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas proposed a program to promote world peace by "increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The awards were originally financed through war reparations and foreign loan repayments to the United States. Turner W. Allen '40, the very first Fulbrighter from both Centre and Kentucky, spent much of World War II based in England with the Eighth Air Force. He thus knew first hand the carnage that inspired Congress to adopt the Fulbright scheme. His Fulbright year (1950-51) in Paris enabled him to research his dissertation in French history. Now the nation's premier program in international education, the Fulbright schedule has expanded far beyond even its sponsor's dream. From the original 10 participating countries, mostly in Western Europe, the program today has ties to 140 countries. It administers a multitude of grants that allow recent graduates, senior scholars, and professionals from the United States and other countries to study abroad for a few weeks or up to a year. The United States shares funding for the program with other countries-51 of which have formal bi-national Fulbright commissions-as well as private and public entities. The awards to undergraduates generally involve a research project proposed by the student and an affiliation with a university. However there are also grants to teach English as a foreign language. Dana Bland '91, for example, taught middle and high school students in Tuebingen, Germany. Her Fulbright definitely affected her future, she says, since she remained abroad for another four years as an editor with the German American Fulbright Commission before joining a New York City publishing house. Bland also launched Centre's nearly unbroken chain of Fulbright winners: 15 in the last 10 years. In addition, Centre had five Fulbrighters named in the first seven years of the program and has had an untold number of faculty and alumni winners over the years. "The Fulbright experience permeates one's whole career, resurfacing in different ways, at the very least in terms of cultural acumen and a valuable network of people," Bland says. Jennifer Scheler '95 agrees. She won a coveted slot to the United Kingdom for her Fulbright. Her project at the University of Edinburgh enabled her to work in the lab of one of the foremost authorities on "cell suicide," or programmed cell death. "I still correspond with some of the friends I made," she says, fulfilling at least one of the Fulbright goals: international contacts. For Scheler, as with so many others, the experience also brightened her future. "The Fulbright year was instrumental in helping me define what I wanted," recalls Scheler, now a first-year medical resident in Cincinnati. "I learned that I like research, but I love human contact. Taking care of people is the biggest thrill." As a doctor, "you do feel stupid a lot," she admits. "But you also can make a difference." Just like the Fulbright. —D.F.J. |
|