For the ninth consecutive year, 17³Ô¹Ï is one of the country's top producers of student Fulbright Awards, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's annual Fulbright rankings.
Thirteen 17³Ô¹Ï seniors and alumni won Fulbrights in 2014 to work and study abroad, breaking Oxy’s single-year record of 12 set the previous year. The 13 are among the 74 17³Ô¹Ï students and alumni who have won Fulbrights since 2003.
17³Ô¹Ï ranks third overall among liberal arts colleges, according to the , tied with Amherst and Oberlin. Only Pitzer (19) and Smith (15) produced more Fulbrights last year.
Seven of the 2014 winners were awarded Fulbright study/research grants, the largest number ever awarded to 17³Ô¹Ï candidates in one year. Nine recently graduated seniors received Fulbright awards, as well as four other alumni. Out of 17³Ô¹Ï’s 19 finalists (from an initial applicant pool of 55), two-thirds won awards.
In addition, it was the first year 17³Ô¹Ï grads have won Fulbright grants to New Zealand and Switzerland. New Zealand only selects nine grantees each year, and 17³Ô¹Ï seniors received two of those. 17³Ô¹Ï seniors also received the College’s first English teaching assistantship (ETA) grants to Greece and Ecuador.
"While this is very exciting news for 17³Ô¹Ï, and our Fulbright recipients, it also demonstrates the hard work, dedication and selfless amount of time our faculty give when working with national awards candidates," said Sue Pramov, Oxy’s director of national awards.
The 2013-14 Fulbright candidates worked with an interdisciplinary group of program advisors—Huss Banai, assistant professor of diplomacy and world affairs; Chris Craney, professor of chemistry; Laura Hebert, associate professor and chair of diplomacy and world affairs; David Kasunic, associate professor and chair of music; and Clair Morrissey, assistant professor of philosophy—as well as a larger group of 38 faculty mentors.
