Six SLU Students Advance to Semifinalist Stage for Fulbright Grants
02/07/2025
Saint Louis University’s Office of Competitive Fellowships and Scholarships has announced that six SLU students have been selected as semifinalists for the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
SLU file photo.
After recommendation from the Fulbright U.S. National Screening Committees, the semifinalists’ applications have been passed to the host countries for final selection. Fulbright decisions are updated regularly, and applicants will be notified in the spring whether they have been selected as finalists to receive the award.
The semifinalists are:
- Lydia Cohen, English Teaching Assistant Award, Germany
- Anuj Ghandi, Fulbright-Nehru Open Study/Research Award, India
- Kalina Kapetanovic, English Teaching Assistant Award, Spain
- Thomas Baker, Binational Business Program, Mexico
- Monique Maerilyn Valdepenas, English Teaching Assistant Award, Mexico
- Olivia Wendel, Open Study/Research Award, Colombia
Fulbright invites students to apply for two types of awards: Open Study/Research Awards or English Teaching Assistant Awards. The Fulbright Open Study/Research Award is a grant for which a candidate designs a proposal for research or study at the graduate level in a specific country.
The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program places recipients in classrooms overseas to supplement local English language instruction. There are also some specialty grants within certain countries for internships and similar opportunities. Grantees receive eight to 10 months of funding to complete their award.
Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected through a merit-based competition that considers academics, personal qualifications, language preparation, and the quality of the proposed project, as well as how it fits into Fulbright’s aim of promoting mutual understanding among nations. Since the founding of the program in 1946, more than 390,000 Fulbrighters have participated in the program, studying and teaching in over 140 countries worldwide.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. It offers students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The program currently awards approximately 2,000 grants annually in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.
Those interested in applying for a Fulbright or another nationally or internationally competitive scholarship or fellowship should contact Rebecca Muich, Ph.D., at rebecca.muich@slu.edu or visit the Office of Competitive Fellowships and Scholarships webpage for more information.
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