CMU STAFF MEMBER, THREE ALUMNI NAMED FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS
PITTSBURGH—The Fulbright Program has named one Carnegie Mellon University staff member and three recent graduates Fulbright Scholars. The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, sponsors the program to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Stephanie Wallach, assistant vice provost for undergraduate education and director of the Fellowships and Scholarship Office and the Undergraduate Research Office, has been selected to participate in the International Education Administrators Program, Oct. 16-30 in Germany. Alumni Nathan Hall of Pittsburgh, James Harrell of Freedom, Pa., and Megan Larcom of Middletown, R.I., will travel to Iceland, Hungary and Egypt, respectively, during the 2010-2011 academic year through the U.S. Student Program.
Wallach will join a delegation of administrators visiting Berlin and other German cities to learn about the German educational and political systems.
“The seminar will provide me a chance to learn about the country’s higher education system,” Wallach said. “This is important for opening up Hallopportunities for Carnegie Mellon students in undergraduate research, especially in science, technology, engineering and math. Germany also offers a wide variety of summer and postgraduate fellowships and funds a large number of Fulbright scholarships.”
Hall, a 2008 graduate of the Masters of Music Composition Program, will travel to Iceland to write music based on how people interact with the country’s landscapes. He plans to work with local artists and musicians to create a multimedia installation that depicts Iceland’s hot springs, volcanoes, waterfalls and glaciers. He also plans to complete a month-long artist residence at the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (Samband Íslenskra Myndlistarmanna) in Reykjavík.
“The Fulbright is an excellent bridge from my current position as an administrator at the Mattress FactoryHarrell museum to my enrollment as a doctoral student in the fall of 2011,” Hall said.
Harrell, a 2009 graduate with a major in policy and management, will conduct research and teach political science at Peter Pazmany Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary. He plans to use this experience to prepare him for a career in academia.
“I aim to be a university-level professor, focusing my research on immigrants’ adjustment to the U.S. education system,” Harrell said.
Larcom, a 2010 graduate with majors in business administration and global politics, has received an English teaching assistantship. She will teach at Suez Canal University in Ismailia, Egypt, while studying Arabic and completing an independent research project.Larcom
Larcom completed several study abroad experiences during her undergraduate career. This summer, she studied Arabic in Morocco through the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Languages Scholarship (CLS) Program. She previously studied abroad at the CLS Program’s Tunisia location and at Carnegie Mellon’s branch campus in Doha, Qatar.
“I have been to the Middle East and North Africa on quite a few occasions, but always with the constant support of an institution such as the State Department or Carnegie Mellon,” Larcom said. “This time, I will be working, living and learning independently. I hope the Fulbright experience provides more definition for my future graduate studies and professional opportunities.”
More information about Carnegie Mellon’s Fellowships and Scholarships Office, Click Here.