Editor’s Note: The ONIS newsletter is a monthly record of news concerning applications for nationally and internationally competitive scholarships, primarily for undergraduates and primarily for the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. If you would like to have a copy emailed directly to you, please send a request to natschol@umn.edu.
Celebrations
Linguistics and Ojibwe Language major Dustin Morrow has been named a 2020 Udall Scholar. The Morris and Stuart Udall Foundation recognizes 55 students each year for their contributions to Environmental and Native American affairs. Dustin, a junior from Hayward, Wisconsin is the third University of Minnesota Twin Cities student in six years to be recognized in the Native Tribal Policy category. A member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, he is actively creating curriculum and resources for Ojibwe language revitalization. Learn more about Dustin here.
Three undergraduates have been awarded Boren Scholarships for 2020-21. Boren Awards are funded by the National Security Education Program to encourage students to engage in extended, immersive study abroad experiences focused on developing skills in critical languages. Clara Bartnik, an Economics major who previously studied Turkish with a Critical Language Scholarship, has been offered a scholarship to return for a year of study in Azerbaijan. Chinese Flagship students Juliet Paulson and Anna Sherman have been offered awards to continue their studies in Mandarin. Juliet, a History, Anthropology and AMES major plans to do so in Nanjing, while Anna, an AMES and Global Studies major, will do so at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Learn more about these students here.
Journalism and Environmental Science Policy and Management major Jessica Jurcek has been named an Ernest Hollings Scholar by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Hollings Scholarship, which awards $19K over two years plus a summer internship with NOAA, recognizes students whose research, community leadership, and professional plans align with the goals of NOAA to study and care for the natural environment, especially the oceans and atmosphere. A sophomore from Hebron, Wisconsin, Jessica grew up on a family farm practicing sustainable agriculture and served on the National Youth Advisory Council of the Farmer’s Union. Learn more here.
Fulbright US Student Program Awards: Ten seniors and recent graduates have been awarded grants by the Fulbright US Student Program to teach English or conduct research abroad next year, and three more have been named as alternates who may receive funds if they become available.
- Senior Economics major Clara Bartnik has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Turkey for 2020-21. Clara, who is also completing minors in Spanish and Teaching English as a Second Language, studied Turkish in Azerbaijan on a Critical Language Scholarship last summer, and plans to do graduate work in economic development.
- Senior Molly Bergum, a Plant Science and Biology, Society and Environment major, was been offered a Fulbright award to do graduate study at the University of East Anglia in England. A Hollings Scholar who has conducted field research on plants and climate in Oregon and Wisconsin as well as in plant genetics at the University of Minnesota, Molly proposes to work on adapting crop plants to climate change at the Sainsbury Center for Plant Research.
- Sofia Cerkvenik, a 2018 BA in History and 2019 MEd in social studies, has been offered a Fulbright award to spend next year in Peru studying the relationship between organized soccer leagues for girls and academic performance.
- Senior English major T. J. Davies has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in South Korea for 2020-21.
- Jacob Dixon a senior in Spanish and Portuguese has been offered a Fulbright award to conduct research in Mozambique on the changing political functions of Marrabenta music. A trumpet player who plans to participate with music ensembles as well as interviewing significant musicians and making use of national archives, Jacob spent a summer in Mozambique with a Foreign Language and Areas Studies award in 2019.
- Senior Italian and Global Studies major Ally Glasford has been named an alternate to teach English in Italy with Fulbright in 2020-21.
- 2019 Graduate Matthew Her has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Thailand for 2020-21. Matthew majored in Linguistics and Asian Languages and Literatures with a concentration in Korean, and completed a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language. He is currently working as an academic coach at a high school in Milwaukee.
- Senior Linguistics and Mathematics major Austin Kraft has been offered a Fulbright Research award to studying grammatical binding in Indonesian Languages. Austin studied Indonesian as a Critical Language Scholar in the summer of 2018 and was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist last fall.
- Zetta Mason, a senior majoring in Sociology and Anthropology, has been offered a Fulbright Research award to travel to Albania for 2020-21 and study developments in the Albanian legal system.
- Emily McCarthy, a senior majoring in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature and minoring in Arabic has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Bahrain for 2020-21.
- Nabila Mohamed, a 2017 graduate in Physiology has been offered a Fulbright Research award to study social determinants of metabolic and cardiovascular health in Abu Dhabi with the United Arab Emirates’ Healthy Futures project. Since graduating, Nabila has worked as research coordinator for the Family Matters study of childhood obesity in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in the Medical School.
- Meta Nagel, a 2019 graduate in English and current MEd student in second language acquisition was named as an alternate for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Colombia.
- Global Studies and Political Science major Devon Severson has been named an alternate to teach English in Paraguay with Fulbright in 2020-21.
Katherine E. Sullivan Scholarships have been awarded to three University of Minnesota students to support extended study abroad in 2020-21. Juliet Paulson has been awarded funds to supplement her Boren Scholarship for study in China. Geography major Keegan Robinson plans to spend the year in Amsterdam studying urban sustainability, and Emma Mulhern, an International Business and Supply Chain Management major, will study challenges of globalization in Toledo, Spain. Sullivan Scholarships are awarded to students at University of Minnesota system schools who engage in a year of immersive study abroad at the end of their undergraduate career.
Events
ONIS will be offering Fulbright application workshops on Zoom beginning later in May. Follow us on Twitter (@natscholUMTC) and contact us by email to make sure that you are getting the latest information.
Deadlines
August 26, 2020: Campus deadline for Fulbright applications for 2021-22.