Three WWU students selected for Fulbrights

Three Western Washington University students have been selected for Fulbright scholarships, a prestigious international educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between people from the United States and other countries.

The selected students include Michaela Rollins Williams of Spokane, a Eurasian Studies and Russian major; Jennifer Mankin of Snohomish, a Linguistics, German, and Japanese major; and Nicole Grambo of Cheney, a Spanish and Bilingual Education major. Max McKinney of Olympia, a Kinesiology and German major, was chosen as an alternate.

Rollins Williams will be a Fulbright in the United Kingdom, where she will be enrolled in a master’s program at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Her career goal is to work with business development initiatives for women in Central Asia; after gaining experience in this field, she plans to earn a doctorate.

Mankin will be a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Germany, where she will be teaching at the secondary level. Mankin also plans to take classes and conduct research on local dialects and the social uses of language. Her career goal is teach English in Europe or Asia.

Grambo will be a Fulbright ETA in Uruguay and divide her time between a rural school that offers a language-immersion program and a High School Teacher Development Center in Montevideo. Grambo plans to enroll in university courses focusing on the history and culture of Uruguay. Her career goal is to teach English in Latin America or work with immigrant communities in the United States. She also plans to earn a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

McKinney, selected as an alternate German ETA, has chosen to accept a position in the doctoral program in Physical Therapy at the University of Rhode Island.

“All of these students have very strong academics records and have a good sense of where they are going in life,” WWU Fellowship Advisor Christine Compston said.

WWU’s Fellowships Office advises students who are interested in applying for nationally competitive scholarships. It provides information about available scholarships, helps students and alumni identify opportunities that match their backgrounds and career goals, and assists candidates in the preparation of their applications.

For more information, contact Compston at (360) 650-4241 or christine.compston@wwu.edu.