Final tally: Chicago a leader in Fulbrights

The final tally of College student winners of 2007-2008 Fulbright fellowships is in.

A total of 17 Chicago students were named Fulbright recipients—the highest number in College history and a number that gave Chicago an eighth place national ranking.

Those Fulbright recipients are Elisabet Aviles, Nicholas Baer, Erik Born, Michael Erlewine, James Johnston, Kristine Khouri, Adam Kucharski, Conrad Lee, Daniel Michaeli, Kevin Newman, Lauren Osen, Michael Pareles, Ava Rodland, Alexandra Squitieri, Andrew Yoder, Irene Yoon and Meredith Zolnowski.

Additionally, three students received teaching fellowships in France—which, although not considered Fulbright fellowships, are funded by the French Ministry of Education, the winners are selected through the Fulbright competition. Those students are Catharine Kollros, Emily Shaw and Ana Maria Sinitean.

“Not only did we reach a record number of recipients with this final group of Fulbright grantees, but I think we saw some of the strongest applications and best-prepared students than in any past competition cycles,” said David Comp, Fulbright Program Adviser in the College.

The U.S. Fulbright Student Fellowship Program awards fellows nine- to 12-month grants for teaching and research abroad. The amount of money a student receives is determined by where the student will be living abroad.

The 2007-2008 Fulbright fellows will travel to international locations, including France, Russia, Jordan, China, Taiwan, Germany and Austria during the next year.

Sometimes confused with the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowships, a program in which Chicago graduate students have led the country for much of the past two decades, the U.S. Fulbright Student Fellowship Program is available to both fourth-year undergraduates and graduate students. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of State, while the Fulbright-Hays DDRA fellowships are administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

Comp said, “We are very pleased with the University’s eighth place ranking for the 2007-2008 Fulbright competition and we are looking forward to learning the results for our 67 undergraduate applicants for the 2008-2009 competition.”