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CSULB ranked second in producing Fulbright Awards

Cal State Long Beach staff and alumni are making their mark overseas.

CSULB has been ranked second nationally among master’s institutions in producing Fulbright Awards for U.S. students for 2008-09, according to the Oct. 24 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Fulbright Program, started in the aftermath of World War II, is the nation’s program for international educational exchange. The program sends 800 scholars and professionals to over 140 countries each year, where they lecture or are involved in research in a wide variety of specialized fields. Since 2000, more than a dozen CSULB students have received Fulbright awards.

This is the second consecutive year CSULB has ranked among the top producing Fulbright colleges. Last year, CSULB was ranked fifth.

“This is another great example of the high quality educational opportunities available to our students,” CSULB President F. King Alexander said in a press release. “It also indicates why Cal State Long Beach remains among the nation’s best.”

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Karen L. Gould said she is delighted by the number of student Fulbright recipients at CSULB.

“The Fulbright Awards program provides students with rich experiences living and working with people in other countries. Our students return with a valuable appreciation for different viewpoints, beliefs and a global perspective that is so critical in today’s society,” she said.

CSULB had three students selected for the Fulbright Award for the 2008-09 academic year, based on academic merit and leadership potential. Matthew Huy was awarded a research grant and Chenin Simi and Terrie Freet were selected for English Teaching Assistantships.

Huy, a 2006 CSULB graduate, is in Florence, Italy, studying at the Florence Dance Cultural Center and working with the 2008 Florence Dance Festival.

Simi, who completed her master’s in Spanish last spring, received a grant from the program and is teaching English in Spain for the academic year. Freet, who received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish at CSULB last spring, is teaching English at a university in Bogotá, Colombia, for 10 months.

“Both my friends in the Fulbright program and the Colombian people here in Bogotá have made my experience unforgettable,” Freet said.

In addition to the three students, three CSULB employees have been selected by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

Frank Baber, an associate professor in the Graduate Center for Public Policy and Administration, was named the Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Environmental Policy at the Polytechnic Institute of Turin, where he will teach and conduct research on international environmental law in the spring 2009 semester.

Robin Lee, associate director of the CSULB Career Development Center, was accepted to the Fulbright International Education Administrators program and traveled to Germany last month where she met with administrators to learn about orientation and retention efforts for first-year students.

“I think that anyone looking to apply for the program needs to be prepared to face the rigorous application and selection processes. The important thing is to find which part of the Fulbright Program fits you, and to choose places and projects that you are passionate about because that will show in the application,” Freet said.

For those interested in the Fulbright Program, the Center for International Education on campus can be of assistance with everything from general guidelines, review criteria and deadlines for the application process.

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