Haverford College Named Top Fulbright Producer

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recently announced the American colleges and universities that produced the most Fulbright U.S. Students and Scholars last year, and Haverford is one of them. Four Fords received Fulbright Student Awards for the 2016/2017 year, making the College one of only 35 undergraduate liberal arts institutions in the country with the highest number of student grants and one of only four of those schools with a 40 percent or higher success rate in applications. This is the fifth time since 2006 that the College has been designated a Fulbright "Top Producer."

Class of 2016 members Jay Garcia, Kathleen Tsai, Rebecca Suzuki, and Claire Dinh were all selected for Fulbright grants last spring. Garcia is currently in the Netherlands conducting research on the protein that causes Huntington's disease in C. elegans worms. Tsai is teaching English in Taiwan, and both Suzuki and Dinh are teaching English in Germany, while studying that country's healthcare system.                              

"Our students' exceptional success with the Fulbright Program is, above all, testament to their scholarly accomplishment and social vision, expressing their commitment as global citizens to learning across national and cultural borders," said Haverford College President Kim Benston. "As young Fulbright Scholars they will serve as superb ambassadors both for Haverford and for the nation, just as they have already distinguished themselves as leaders within our own community both in and beyond the classroom."

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, Associate Dean of the College and Dean of Academic Affairs Phil Bean serves as the advisor to students and alumni who are interested in the Fulbright program. He and the Fulbright Committee he convenes, 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.

"I am delighted to learn that Haverford's candidates have again performed so well in the pursuit of the Fulbright Scholarship," said Bean. "The entire pool was strong, 60 percent of our applicants were finalists, and nearly half were awarded the Fulbright.  Regardless of outcome, I'm very proud of the effort all of our candidates made last year. Every one of them brought an exemplary level of sustained, thoughtful effort to bear in crafting compelling applications over the course of months. It was a great privilege and joy to work with them all."

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 370,000 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.

-Rebecca Raber