SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two Santa Clara University seniors and two alumni have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships to study or teach abroad during the 2015-2016 academic year.
“I extend my warmest congratulations to these outstanding Fulbright scholars,” said University President Michael Engh, S.J. “Their accomplishments and intellectual endeavors represent the best of Santa Clara University. They, like Santa Clara, have a special appreciation for the international exchange of ideas and culture as a source for positive global change.”
The SCU student winners are:
*Senior Keyra Galvan, an economics and international business major and LEAD Scholar, who will travel to Mexico City, Mexico, to combine business coursework with an internship at a Mexico-based company. Galvan, a 21-year-old native of San Jose, Calif., says she discovered during her study-abroad in Spain that “cultural awareness” was something she loved and valued. On campus, she has been active in the Multicultural Center and Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity.
*Senior Ty Van Herweg, an economics and theatre double major and English minor from Woodinville, Wash, who will go to villages in Uganda for a project to help entrepreneurs get their products to rural customers, known as “last mile distribution.” The project will utilize a phone app, with the aim of increasing incomes of rural entrepreneurs and motorcyclists who deliver products. While on campus, he has been active in theatre productions on campus and Santa Clara Community Action Program, as well as tutoring for the economics department. Van Herweg, 22, credits his experience as a Global Social Benefit Fellow through SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society, with helping him win the Fulbright to Uganda, where he traveled for a summer as a Fellow to help social entrepreneurship business Banapads.
The SCU alumni who won Fulbrights are:
*Jenny Kromm, 2013 history major and music minor, who will be in Vienna, Austria, to study censorship campaigns there in WWI, and their impact on the arts. Kromm, a 24-year-old whose hometown is Santa Clara, studied in Vienna through an SCU Research Travel Award in 2011 and received many scholarships and opportunities to study German music and language while at SCU. Her Fulbright topic was influenced by a history class taught by Professor Matthew Newsom Kerr called War and Democracy: WWI in the UK, which she said “changed my life”; and by her senior thesis, which focused on the collapse of the Austrian monarchy before and during WWI and rising nationalism of former Austro-Hungarian territories.
*Jeff Moran, a 2004 graduate in theatre arts and English, who will be an English teaching assistant in Colombia. While an SCU student, Moran, from Stockton, Calif., performed in nine mainstage productions and was an actor, director or playwright in dozens of student-created pieces. While getting his master’s in teaching English as a second language, the 32-year-old became interested in “the connection between language and culture,” which he hopes to explore during his year as a Fulbright scholar in Colombia. He also plans to work in a service project to help build sustainable social change.
Two Broncos also were chosen as alternates, meaning they will be able to pursue their scholarships if others cannot accept:
*Joseph Alexander-Short, a 2014 religious studies major and international studies, communications and political science minor, for a project in El Salvador on unaccompanied minors
*Yasmeen Wanees, a senior political science major and anthropology, Arabic & Mid Eastern studies minor and honors program and LEAD Scholar, for a project in Morocco on the effects of the Argan oil industry on Moroccan women’s livelihoods.
“We are extremely proud of these Fulbright winners, who have worked hard for this honor and have put us on track to be a “Fulbright Top Producer” university for the third year in a row,” said Leilani Miller, director of the Office of Student Fellowships. “We are also proud of our Fulbright alternates, who have shown the same level of excellence in their college and post-college careers.”
About the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed 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, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The Program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide. For further information please visit http://fulbright.state.gov.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
