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Fulbright program named among the best
November 16, 2007
The Fulbright Program recently acknowledged PLU as one of the top four masters-level institutions with regard to the number of students currently participating in the prestigious fellowship.
Four PLU graduates are currently studying abroad as part of the U.S. Fulbright Student Fellowship. Of similar institutions, the highest number was five.
“That PLU ranked so high testifies not only to the quality of PLU, but to the quality of a liberal arts education,” said Troy Storfjell, assistant professor of languages and literatures, and the university’s Fulbright program adviser.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and named for U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright program was established in 1946 to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
It is the largest U.S. international exchange program funding opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to study or teach abroad. The vision of the program – “to increase mutual understanding” – perfectly squares with PLU’s focus on preparing its graduates to engage the world.
“The Fulbright Fellowship is an ideal match with the global focus of this university,” Storfjell said.
PLU’s always had a strong global focus. But Storfjell said most of the credit for bringing the university and the program together should go to Rodney Swenson, former professor of German. Until this last year when Storfjell took over, Swenson had served as the Fulbright program adviser since 1975, when the first of PLU’s 76 students to date received the award. Storfjell worked with Swenson for nearly a year before he took over as adviser.
“I got to see, firsthand, how the process should be done,” Storfjell recalled. “First, he knows everything. And the care he puts (into reviewing applications and advising) is central to the university’s success. PLU would not have had nearly as many recipients if it weren’t for Rodney’s work.”
The Fulbright is a prestigious fellowship, and both the recipients and PLU deserve recognition for their efforts. But what does it mean for current Fulbright Fellows who are currently abroad as part of the program?
For Michael Wauters ’07 (pictured), that answer is easy. As a senior majoring in biology, Wauters received a fellowship to assist on epidemiological study of Chagas' disease in the Pastaza province of Ecuador.
After he spent J-Term 2006 in Ecuador with biology professor William Teska, Wauters knew he wanted to return to Latin America. He planned to spend a year after graduation immersed in another culture and working on his Spanish before returning to the United States to attend medical school. When the Fulbright came through, his short-term goals didn’t change, but he noted, “I no longer had to sweat the details of funding my dream.”
In the short time Wauters has been in Ecuador, some of his long-term goals have changed. He’s still passionate about medicine, but after seeing the world from a different perspective, he wonders if another person on the traditional medical-school path is really what the world needs.
“Practicing medicine (is) a vocation I am passionate about. Yet the longer I am here the more I realize merely practicing medicine will never be enough,” he recently stated in an e-mail. “As I start to comprehend the magnitude of the suffering, the injustice and the pain in our world, I can’t just blink and make it all go away.
“I don’t really know what this continuing revelation means for my future, I only know I cannot be a bystander. Perhaps working with an organization such as Médecins Sans Frontières or Partners In Health, maybe blazing my own path,” Wauters continued. “And each time these thoughts cross my mind, I wonder, can I really go through with this? Do I have what it takes to serve to this degree? And more and more the answer is yes, without a doubt, yes.”
A complete ranking appeared in the Oct. 26 print edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education and can still be found in its online edition.
University Communications staff writer Steve Hansen compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8410 or at hansense@plu.edu. Photo provided by Michael Wauters ’07.
“That PLU ranked so high testifies not only to the quality of PLU, but to the quality of a liberal arts education,” said Troy Storfjell, assistant professor of languages and literatures, and the university’s Fulbright program adviser.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and named for U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright program was established in 1946 to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
It is the largest U.S. international exchange program funding opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to study or teach abroad. The vision of the program – “to increase mutual understanding” – perfectly squares with PLU’s focus on preparing its graduates to engage the world.
“The Fulbright Fellowship is an ideal match with the global focus of this university,” Storfjell said.
PLU’s always had a strong global focus. But Storfjell said most of the credit for bringing the university and the program together should go to Rodney Swenson, former professor of German. Until this last year when Storfjell took over, Swenson had served as the Fulbright program adviser since 1975, when the first of PLU’s 76 students to date received the award. Storfjell worked with Swenson for nearly a year before he took over as adviser.
“I got to see, firsthand, how the process should be done,” Storfjell recalled. “First, he knows everything. And the care he puts (into reviewing applications and advising) is central to the university’s success. PLU would not have had nearly as many recipients if it weren’t for Rodney’s work.”
The Fulbright is a prestigious fellowship, and both the recipients and PLU deserve recognition for their efforts. But what does it mean for current Fulbright Fellows who are currently abroad as part of the program?
For Michael Wauters ’07 (pictured), that answer is easy. As a senior majoring in biology, Wauters received a fellowship to assist on epidemiological study of Chagas' disease in the Pastaza province of Ecuador.
After he spent J-Term 2006 in Ecuador with biology professor William Teska, Wauters knew he wanted to return to Latin America. He planned to spend a year after graduation immersed in another culture and working on his Spanish before returning to the United States to attend medical school. When the Fulbright came through, his short-term goals didn’t change, but he noted, “I no longer had to sweat the details of funding my dream.”
In the short time Wauters has been in Ecuador, some of his long-term goals have changed. He’s still passionate about medicine, but after seeing the world from a different perspective, he wonders if another person on the traditional medical-school path is really what the world needs.
“Practicing medicine (is) a vocation I am passionate about. Yet the longer I am here the more I realize merely practicing medicine will never be enough,” he recently stated in an e-mail. “As I start to comprehend the magnitude of the suffering, the injustice and the pain in our world, I can’t just blink and make it all go away.
“I don’t really know what this continuing revelation means for my future, I only know I cannot be a bystander. Perhaps working with an organization such as Médecins Sans Frontières or Partners In Health, maybe blazing my own path,” Wauters continued. “And each time these thoughts cross my mind, I wonder, can I really go through with this? Do I have what it takes to serve to this degree? And more and more the answer is yes, without a doubt, yes.”
A complete ranking appeared in the Oct. 26 print edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education and can still be found in its online edition.
University Communications staff writer Steve Hansen compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact him at ext. 8410 or at hansense@plu.edu. Photo provided by Michael Wauters ’07.