Obies Win Fulbrights

Fifteen Obies—11 graduating seniors, two undergraduates, and two alumnae—have received Fulbright grants to study abroad. They are: Sophia Bamert, Laura Rose Brylowski, Spike Enzweiler, Lyz Glickman, Leah Goldman, Amanda Gracia, Britt Higgins, Kara Kralik, Rachel McMonagle, Darrin Schultz, and Sophie Yapalater, all May 2013 graduates; Gabriel Brown ’16; Megan Michel ’15; Miriam Rothenberg ’12; and Larissa Min ’98.

Sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright aims to build bridges between American students and scholars and other nations throughout the globe. Founded by the Institute of International Education in 1946, the Fulbright Foundation provides grants to U.S. graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals, and artists to study abroad for one academic year.

As the largest international exchange program in the United States, the Fulbright program supports about 1,700 fellows each year, providing them with opportunities to engage in study, independent learning, research, or teaching assistantships in one of more than 135 countries worldwide. Participants are selected on the basis of academic merit and leadership potential, as well as their ability to serve as cultural ambassadors for the United States in their host country.

The individuals’ projects are described in their photo captions, above, except for Laissa Min and Miriam Rothenberg, for whom photos are unavailable; their projects are described below.

Larissa Min

A 1998 graduate, Larissa Min is a creative and freelance writer, editor, speaker, and photographer. The Fulbright grant will enable her to live and research in Brazil to complete a creative writing project titled Breaking English, and begin a second project, Wondering Gondwana.

Breaking English is a creative nonfictional account of Min’s family’s double migration from Korea to Brazil and later to the United States. During the Fulbright year, she will also do primary research in the Amazon region— visiting with scientists, activists, and indigenous and immigrant populations— to better understand the realities of the region. Min just completed a yearlong residency in Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation Artists and Writers program. There, she conducted field research for Wondering Gondwana, which explores the intersections of conservation, development, and global climate change from a developing world's perspective in one of the last wild places in the world.

Miriam Rothenberg

Miriam Rothenberg ‘12 was awarded a scholarship to attend Durham University in England, where she will be a candidate for the master’s program in archaeology. Her research project during the Fulbright year will involve the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to the study of landscapes as sites of cultural memory construction. Rothenberg majored in archaeology and anthropology with a minor in geology. She says she wanted to study in the United Kingdom because the role and practice of archaeology is much different there compared to the United States. For example, she says, in the UK, archaeology is a distinct discipline, whereas in the U.S., it is more closely tied with anthropology. She eventually plans to return to the U.S. for doctoral studies.