This year four members of Elizabethtown College were awarded Fulbright scholarships. The winners, of which there were two students and two professors, are Robert Wheelersburg, professor of anthropology, Cristina Ciocirlan, associate professor of management, Katie Appleby, a senior Spanish education major, and Matt Walters, a senior English secondary education major.
The Fulbright scholarship founded in 1946, when J. William Fulbright was the senator of Arkansas. The program was supported and funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As a member of the United States Congress for over 30 years, Fulbright was focused on dealing with foreign policy and international affairs.
Fulbright gained the support of the United States government and started the international Fulbright scholarship program, which grants scholarships to a number of different fields including: the sciences, public service, business, government and the arts.
The Fulbright program awards approximately 8,000 grants each year to 1,600 students across the United States, 4,000 to foreign students, 1,200 scholars from the United States and 900 visiting scholars. Fulbright also awards several hundred professionals and teachers all over the United States. There are 310,000 people across the world who have been awarded a Fulbright scholarship since the program started in 1946.
Robert Wheelersburg, professor of anthropology. Wheelersburg will spend his 2015 fall semester in Iceland, where he will explore sustainable economic development for the Arctic regions. This is Wheelersburg’s third Fulbright award as a professor.
The other professor that won a Fulbright award is Cristina Ciocirlan, she is the associate professor of management.
“I consider the Fulbright Award as the most prestigious recognition of my work. I am very grateful to the binational US-UK Fulbright Commission and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) for giving me this award,” Cirocirlan said.
Ciocirlan will conduct research with several other professors. Their research is related to discretionary environmental behaviors at Durham University Business School in Durham, England.
“I am excited to conduct my research project at Durham University and contribute to the advancement of the field of environmental psychology and sustainable management of organizations. It is amazing to be part of this growing current in organizations today” Ciocirlan said.
Student winner Matt Walters will travel to South Korea to become a teaching assistant. Walter explained that being a Fulbrighter is an awesome feeling. He is excited to experience different styles of teaching in South Korea. Walters looks forward to meeting his host family, with whom he will be living for his entire experience in Korea. He will have to adapt to Korean culture and learn their customs.
Walters also has a minor in music so while he is traveling in South Korea he plans to offer music lessons to anyone who is willing to learn. He is especially excited to learn how to play Korean music. As a music minor, Walters is part of four different music groups, has traveled and toured in Brazil and Colombia. At Etown he also took part in Called to Lead and is an event programmer for the Office of Student Activities.
Katie Appleby is the fourth Etown Fulbright winner. Appleby will be traveling to Mexico to become a teaching assistant. Appleby has known that she wanted to become a teacher since the seventh grade and since then she has done everything she could to make her dream come true. Because of the Fulbright award she will be able to teach in another country, something she’s always wanted to do.
