The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recently announced the American colleges and universities that produced the most 2015-2016 Fulbright U.S. Students and Scholars. Five students and two faculty members from Haverford College received Fulbright Student and Scholar awards for 2015-2016, making the College one of only 14 undergraduate liberal arts institutions in the country with the highest number of both student and faculty grants. (This is the fourth time since 2006 that the College has been designated a Fulbright "Top Producer.")

Class of 2015 members Connor Odekirk, Stephen Profeta, Juliette Rando, Lee Rosenthal, and Daniel Rothschild are the Fulbright U.S. Student winners. Thanks to these awards, three of these young alumni are teaching English abroad: Odekirk in Russia, Profeta in Turkey, and Rothschild in Germany. Rosenthal and Rando are conducting Fulbright-funded scientific research; he in Germany and she in the Netherlands. This year's five Haverford Fulbright winners marks the fourth time in 13 years that so many students have won, and ties the college's all-time record.

The two Haverford faculty members who are Fulbright Scholars this year are Assistant Professor of Chemistry Joshua Schrier and Visiting Associate Professor of Independent College Programs Carol Solomon. Schrier is using his grant to fund work with scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Germany. Solomon is using hers to fund research on contemporary art in Morocco over three successive years.

"The Fulbright Program is a powerful vehicle for advancing its participants' cultural knowledge and professional development," says College President Kim Benston. "The success our students and faculty have enjoyed in obtaining these fellowships therefore constitutes a wealth of truly transformative experience for our community. At the same time, this success signifies the vitality of Haverford's engagement with global society across a wide variety of educational fields."

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education. At Haverford, the Fulbright competition is administered by Associate Dean of the College and Dean of Academic Affairs Phil Bean, who is the program advisor. He and the Fulbright Committee, which includes Associate Dean of the College Theresa Tensuan, Dean of the College Martha Denney, and Director of the College Writing Center Kristin Lindgren, help candidates hone their applications and offer critical input in the final stages of the process.

"Our candidates work extremely hard on their applications," says Bean. "They hone their applications, typically with input from me and often from faculty mentors, progressively over the course of the summer, and produce a minimum of four major redrafts, sometimes many more, before our campus deadline. They bring both talent and great seriousness of purpose to the process."

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 360,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Over 1,900 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study are offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English, and conduct research annually. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in over 140 countries throughout the world. Lists of Fulbright recipients are available at www.fulbrightonline.org/us.