Students, Faculty Named Recipients of Fulbright Awards
Throughout the spring, the U.S. Department of State has been announcing the recipients of the 2022-2023 Fulbright student and scholar awards. Three CGU students and one faculty member have been named recipients of the prestigious award.
Created to boost understanding between the people of the United States and people from other countries, the Fulbright awards are funded mainly by an annual federal appropriation to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Among this year’s recipients are doctoral history student Anne Geismann Alene, who will visit Japan, and doctoral religion student Nolan Lebovitz, who will go to Israel. A third winner, education student Al Schleicher, who will go to Belize, is enrolled in the joint doctoral program in education that CGU conducts in collaboration with San Diego State University.
Associate Professor Yan Li, a faculty member of the Center for Information Systems & Technology, has been selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award and will travel to Australia during the 2022-23 academic year. She will collaborate with colleagues from her host institute, the University of New South Wales, for four months.
Some 8,000 grants are awarded annually and fall into the following categories: about 2,000 U.S. students, 4,000 foreign students, some 800 U.S. scholars, and 900 visiting scholars (in addition to several hundred teachers and professionals).
More Help for Applicants
Last year, the Student Grant & Award Initiative was established to provide application support from two offices on campus: the Center for Writing and Rhetoric (CWR) and the Office of Research, Sponsored Programs & Grants.
For CWR Director Marcus Weakley, this year’s Fulbright successes are a sign of that initiative’s positive impact on helping CGU’s outstanding student scholars navigate the Fulbright’s highly competitive application program.
“We have incredible scholars going through the application process,” Weakley said. “We implemented this initiative to ensure that they have every resource available so that their applications are 100% competitive.”
Just how competitive are the Fulbrights? According to Fulbright pundits, application success rates hover at around 20% from year to year. Ideal recipients are those who are eager to make a difference and who are willing to act as ambassadors of both the U.S. and the Fulbright program in the host country where they will spend their time.
Weakley said all CGU’s applicants this year—not just the three selected for awards—are outstanding examples of the university’s students.
“It’s been a pleasure for my office to work with such high caliber applicants this year,” he said. “We’re eagerly looking forward to next year.”