By Rachel Osterhues
The Fulbright scholar program is a nationally recognized competition in which graduating seniors, recent graduates, and graduate students from across the country compete for paid English teaching assistant positions or research positions in 155 countries, according to the University of Louisville’s website.
U of L is proudly the top school in the state to produce Fulbright scholar winners. In the 2010 – 2011 school year, U of L had 31 applicants, 14 of which were winners of a Fulbright scholar award. This places U of L as the number one research university in the state for the rate of return.
Dr. Patricia Condon is the director of national and international scholarships at U of L. Condon is responsible for producing as many qualified Fulbright scholar winners as possible from the University of Louisville. She stresses that Fulbright Scholar awards are granted to students from all different kinds of disciplines ranging from law school students to music education students.
“If you want to do international law or international business Fulbright is perfect because you have this fantastic year of experience in another culture,” said Dr. Condon. “It adds so many dimensions to our students.”
Condon said the main criterion Fulbright is looking for are people who will be strong cultural ambassadors representing America in other countries. Condon also notes that it is beneficial for applicants to prove that they can relate and get along with people very well and attributes U of L’s success with the Fulbright scholar program to the fact that U of L applicant are students with diverse backgrounds.
“Fulbright loves when people are from a different part of the state or are a first generation college student in their family,” said Condon.
Seabrook Jones is the assistant to the director of national and international scholarship opportunities. She is a U of L graduate and she won a Fulbright scholar award in 2003. In the program, she travelled to South Korea as an English teaching assistant.
“Winning a Fulbright scholarship ETA to South Korea was a really life changing experience and it is now wonderful to help other students get the opportunity to have a similar experience,” said Jones.
There are currently 37 applicants for the 2011-2012 year. U of L is hopeful that many of these applicants will end up going overseas to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity.
