After an exciting year celebrating its three newest Fulbright students, this week the University of Redlands was designated a “Top Producer of Fulbright Students” for the 2019-20 year. This is the fifth national recognition for Redlands as a top-producing master’s institution, which this year is one of only 28 master’s institutions to share the prestigious designation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education Fulbright ranking. The University was first recognized in 2008.
“For more than a decade, the University of Redlands has been fully committed to the ideals and goals of the Fulbright Scholarship. We are proud to have this commitment recognized. It is a tribute to the hard work and accomplishment of our students, as well as the commitment of our faculty and staff,” said College of Arts & Sciences Dean, Kendrick Brown.
The Fulbright Program was created to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over 2,200 U.S. Students and over 900 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators are awarded Fulbright grants annually. In addition, some 4,000 Fulbright Foreign Students and Visiting Scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research, or teach their native language.
The three Redlands recipients of 2019 Fulbright awards — considered the highest and most competitive awards for overseas research or teaching from the federal government — are Brenna Phillips ‘19, Lidya Stamper ‘19, and Theo Whitcomb ’19, who are currently teaching and conducting research in the Netherlands, South Africa, and India.
“We are delighted to see that the colleges and universities we are honoring as 2019-2020 Fulbright top producing institutions reflect the geographic and institutional diversity of higher education in the United States,” said Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. “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. 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.”
The University’s 24 Fulbright Students have traveled to South Africa, India, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Guatemala, Norway, Spain, Japan, Morocco, and Taiwan — to conduct research and to teach. Their majors include global business, international studies, languages, biology, communicative disorders and music.