Western tops national ranking for prestigious Fulbright Scholarships

Western Washington University was the top national producer among public master’s granting institutions for Fulbright Scholarship winners in 2013, according to a just-released ranking from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Western produced nine Fulbright winners in 2013, a record for the institution. Even though three of those scholarships were judged in the ranking to be supplemental, and thus not counted in its total, Western’s adjusted total of six still placed it tops in the nation in its category.

“As we congratulate our Fulbright students on this impressive accomplishment, we also express great appreciation to the faculty and staff that provided the mentoring associated with the award application process,” said Western’s Provost Brent Carbajal. “This is indeed a well-deserved honor and accolade for Western.”

Western finished third nationally among all master’s granting institutions, public or private, in the ranking. It also finished tied for second with the University of Portland in the Pacific Northwest for all institutions, regardless of size, behind only the University of Washington, which had 11 winners.

“For many years I’ve thought that the best Western students could compete with anyone in the country,” said Tom Moore, director of Western’s Fellowship Office. “This Fulbright success confirms it.”   

The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.  Fulbrights have enabled nearly 300,000 participants to travel abroad to study, teach, conduct research and exchange ideas to foster understanding between Americans and people of other countries.

Western Fulbright winners for 2013, and their destinations, are:  Rebecca Donaldson (Marysville), Brazil; Valeria Fisher (Bellingham), Germany; Elani Koogle (Bellingham), Germany; Andrew Lapidus (Vancouver), Austria; Ariel Morgan (Santa Fe, N.M.), Mexico; Olivia Mothershead (Kent), Austria; Matthew Osborne (Tacoma), Austria; Hannah Wolf (Juneau, Alaska), Romania; and Hillary Landers (Spokane), Brazil.

For more information, contact Tom Moore at Western’s Fellowships Office at (360) 650-4074 or go to http://www.wwu.edu/fellowships/about.shtml.