Photo by Aubrey Carr | The Crow’s Nest
By Jenna Nicastro
For a ninth year, USF is a top producer for Fulbright scholars.
The United States Fulbright program is a government organization that provides awards every year to approximately 8,000 students, teachers, artists, scholars, and more. Applicants are chosen from the U.S. and over 160 countries to conduct research.
The Fulbright program is funded by the U.S. Congress and additional funding is provided by U.S. and foreign institutions. To be eligible for the scholarship, students must have a conferred bachelor’s degree and be a citizen of the U.S. among other requirements.
Initial considerations of applicants are based on their proposal, qualifications, contribution to the Fulbright mission, and more.
All applications go under technical review and through the National Screening Committee (NSC), semi-finalists are then sent to the host country review and approved or not.
The USF Fulbright scholars for the academic year 2024-25 are:
- Murat Munkin, awarded for economics and is studying in Kazakhstan.
- Loni Hagen, awarded for information sciences and systems and is studying in Japan.
- Mauricio Arias, awarded for engineering and is studying in Mexico.
- Charles Vanover, awarded for education and is studying in the Maldives.
- Ji-en Chang, awarded for engineering and is studying in Taiwan.
Fulbright scholars and students gain new views on world issues and research problems, learn to apply them to real-world examples, and create global partnerships.
USF’s past Fulbright scholars have represented a number of academic subjects including engineering, economics, and information sciences.
One example of a USF faculty member that got selected for a Fulbright scholarship is the USF St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Christian Hardigree, who was selected for the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program in France in Oct. 2024.
Like previous Fulbright scholars, Hardigree took the opportunity to gain knowledge and enhance her perspective on education and felt it was an “honor” to be selected, Hardigree said.
