UW-Stevens Point named Top Producer of Fulbright Scholars

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs named the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Scholars. This recognition is given to universities and colleges that received the highest number of applicants selected for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

Two UW-Stevens Point faculty members were selected for Fulbright awards this academic year. Andy Felt, math professor, began teaching students and faculty at Gdansk University of Technology in Poland in the fall semester. Krista Slemmons, biology, began her Fulbright position in the spring semester, teaching at the University of Malaga in Spain. 

UW-Stevens Point was the only Wisconsin university besides UW-Madison to be named as a Fulbright Scholar Top Producer. The list was published Feb. 10.

Fulbright is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program.  

“It is an honor for UW-Stevens Point to be named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Top Producing Institution,” said La Vonne Cornell-Swanson, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “This award in many ways highlights our long-term commitment to global education and participation in the Fulbright Scholars Program.”  

Eleven UW-Stevens Point faculty members have been selected to participate as Fulbright Scholars, teaching in other countries. The university has hosted four faculty scholars from other countries since 1967.

“Faculty in the Fulbright Scholars Program benefit from the opportunity to study, conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to the engagement of mutual understanding and community building while in residence with their host countries,” Cornell-Swanson said. They return with renewed ideas and insights, which they share with their students and colleagues at UW-Stevens Point.

Two recent UW-Stevens Point graduates are participating in the Fulbright Student program as English teaching assistants: Hailee Fritsch, who had a double major in Spanish and Elementary Education and a minor in English as a second language, is spending a year in Ecuador. Sara Kalkhoff, who majored in international studies and political science with an ESL minor, is in Rwanda.

The Fulbright Student program provides transportation to the host country, lodging and a teaching grant for nine months.  For more information about the Fulbright Student program, contact the Office of International Education at oie@uwsp.edu.  

Also through Fulbright, a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program has been part of the Department of World Languages and Literatures for many years. UW-Stevens Point is hosting Nataliia Vatolina from Russian to assist with Russian instruction this year. She is among 20 Fulbright facilitators sponsored by UW-Stevens Point since 2006.These trained instructors teach languages, such as Arabic, Japanese and Russian.

UW-Stevens Point faculty who participated in the Fulbright Scholars Program in the past are:

Fulbright is among largest, most diverse exchange programs in the world. Since its inception in 1946, more than 400,000 participants from all backgrounds and fields – including recent university graduates, teachers, scientists, researchers and artists from the United States and more than 160 other countries – have participated. Fulbright alumni have returned to their home countries to make an impact on their communities thanks to their expanded worldview, a deep appreciation for their host country and its people, and a larger network of colleagues and friends. 

“On behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken, congratulations to the colleges and universities recognized as 2022-2023 Fulbright Top Producing Institutions, and to all the applicants who were selected for the Fulbright Program this year,” said Lee Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Fulbright alumni include 41 heads of state or government, 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders and changemakers who enhance mutual understanding.  

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org/