Saturday, February 27, 2016

U.S. State Department, Chronicle of Higher Education Name Loyola University New Orleans a Top U.S. Fulbright Producer


Press release, loyno.edu; via JB on Facebook

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Three Fulbrights and a Fulbright mtv-U award during the 2015-2016 year places private Jesuit Catholic liberal arts university among Top U.S. Fulbright Producers
(New Orleans, La. – Feb. 22, 2016) The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has named Loyola University New Orleans among the Top U.S. Fulbright Producers for the 2015-2016 academic year. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education [.]
“The Fulbright Award is one of the most prestigious awards an undergraduate or graduate student can win, and we are overjoyed to learn that based on our Carnegie classification, and size and type of institution, Loyola University New Orleans ranks among the Top U.S. Fulbright Producers,” said Loyola University New Orleans President the Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D. “At Loyola New Orleans, we encourage our students to ‘go forth and set the world on fire,’ and we are always pleased to see our students succeeding.”
“Being named a Top U.S. Producer of Fulbright Scholars places Loyola University New Orleans among some of the top-ranked universities in the nation ― and signals to the world the outstanding academic offerings and excellent education we offer at Loyola,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Marc Manganaro.
“Loyola University New Orleans is a small Jesuit Catholic liberal arts institution that provides one-on-one collaborative learning experiences in an environment of academic rigor and with a focus on development of the whole person. We are pleased to see our students aligning their research, study and extracurricular experiences with career interests to win highly competitive Fulbright Awards that allow them to continue focused study and exploration.”
In the 2014-2015 academic year, nearly one-third of the 15 undergraduate students at Loyola who applied for a Fulbright grant received one, earning the opportunity to travel and study abroad during the 2015-2016 year on a Fulbright. The prestigious awards provide recipients Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants to study abroad and are conferred by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the U.S. Department of State.
Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential.
Molly Alper ‘14, Joseph Patrick Dougherty ‘14 and Mara Stevens ‘15 are among the more than 1,900 students offered an opportunity to travel and study abroad on a traditional Fulbright grant for the 2015-16 academic year. According to the U.S. State Department, Dmitri Staszewski ’15 is one of five students in the nation to receive an ultra-elite mtvU award.
Loyola’s Fulbright recipients represent a broad range of interests and academic offerings at Loyola.
Alper, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology and Spanish, has used her Fulbright to travel to South America to do research on human trafficking, an issue she has been studying since her freshman year at Loyola and furthered through her work with Loyola’s Modern Slavery Research Project, a program working to address the issue of human trafficking in New Orleans, the U.S. and abroad.
Dougherty, a 2014 graduate with a degree in history, has travelled to Indonesia to teach English, with plans to return to New Orleans to teach.
Stevens, a member of the University Honors program who graduated from Loyola with degrees in history and psychology, was awarded the Fulbright to travel to Tajikistan to teach English. She has opted to defer the award in order to participate this year in teachNOLA.
Staszewski, a graduate of Loyola’s Film and Music Industries Studies program and University Honors program, is using his Fulbright-mtvU Award, will use his award to return to Mongolia and continue to document what ethnologists see as a changing nomadic culture.
“The 2014-2015 academic year marks the highest number of Fulbright winners Loyola has ever had,” said Laura Murphy, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and adviser to Loyola’s Fulbright applicants last year. “In the last few years, Loyola has dedicated additional effort to guiding students through the competitive process of applying for major awards like the Fulbright and the Rhodes. These wins are a very visible sign of the excellent educations and one-on-one attention our students receive here at Loyola.”
The Fulbright competition is administered at Loyola University New Orleans through Carol Ann MacGregor, assistant professor of sociology and national fellowships adviser at Loyola. More information on how to apply can be found on Loyola’s website.

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