CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the ninth time in the past 10 years, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been named among the U.S. colleges and universities that produce the most Fulbright U.S. Student Awards, as announced recently by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Thirteen students from the Urbana campus received Fulbright awards for the 2019-20 academic year, placing Illinois among the top 15 public institutions in that regard.
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.
“We are committed to the Fulbright Program’s goals of creating lasting professional and personal connections by sending passionate and accomplished U.S. students of all backgrounds to study, research or teach English in communities throughout the world,” said Marie Royce, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. “These Fulbrighters serve as citizen ambassadors for the United States in their host communities, and we will benefit from the skills, knowledge and global connections they build on their exchanges long after they return home.”
According to David Schug, the director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois, one of the Illinois recipients, Miroslava Osorio, was just notified of her grant award in January and is already participating in the Fulbright program teaching English in Malaysia. Osorio joins a dozen other University of Illinois students and young alumni currently abroad on a Fulbright; one Illinois student declined the grant. Osorio, of Wheeling, Illinois, where she attended Buffalo Grove High School, graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in global studies and a minor in Latina/Latino studies. While attending Illinois, Osorio was a regular student presence and student employee at La Casa Cultural Latina, which she describes as her “home away from home.” Initially selected as a Fulbright alternate, Osorio said she plans to pursue a career in international law upon her return.
The Fulbright competition is administered jointly at Illinois through the National and International Scholarships Program, which assists undergraduates and recent alumni, and the Office of External Fellowships, which focuses on graduate student applications. Both offices have begun working with future candidates, as applications will open March 31 for students and recent alumni interested in pursuing studies, fine arts, research or English teaching assistantships under the Fulbright for the 2021-22 academic year.
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 390,000 participants – chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – an opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Over 2,000 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 fields of study are offered Fulbright grants to study, teach English and conduct research each year in more than 160 countries. The Fulbright Program also awards grants to U.S. scholars, teachers and faculty members to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, some 4,000 foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the U.S. annually to study, lecture, conduct research and teach foreign languages.