W&L a Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Students for Fifth Straight Year Washington and Lee was ranked second among the baccalaureate institutions recognized by the Fulbright Program.

By W&L News Office
February 10, 2023

Washington and Lee University is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. students for the fifth consecutive year. Each year, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces the top producing institutions for the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

Washington and Lee was ranked second among the baccalaureate institutions recognized by the Fulbright Program. This year’s ranking is W&L’s highest ever among top-producing Fulbright institutions.

“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.

The Fulbright Program is among the largest and 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 U.S. and over 160 other countries — have participated in the program. 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.

W&L had a record number of applicants receive Fulbright awards for the academic year 2022-2023. Fifteen individuals were offered grants, and 13 of them accepted the grant.

• Erin Addison ’22 was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Uruguay.
• Samantha Carley ’22 was awarded a Fulbright ETA to Georgia.
• Katie Cones ’21 was awarded a Fulbright ETA to Bulgaria.
• David Gálvez ’22 was awarded a Fulbright ETA to France.
• Elizabeth Grist ’22 was awarded a Fulbright research grant to Melbourne, Australia, to study the stigma and barriers associated with receiving medication for opioid use disorder (OUD) under Suzanne Nielsen, a leading addiction researcher in Australia.
• Maggie Hardin ’22 received a Fulbright ETA to Germany.
• Graham Kingwill ’22  was awarded a Fulbright ETA to teach English at Fergana Polytechnic Institute in Fergana, Uzbekistan.
• Troy Larsen ’22 was awarded a Fulbright grant to Hungary to study at the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics (BSM) and participate in a research group at the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics.
• Sydney Lee ’22 was awarded a Fulbright ETA to Costa Rica.
• Elyssa McMaster ’22 was awarded a Fulbright research grant to Italy to complete a hybrid art history and computer science project titled “Computational approaches to Florentine manuscript paintings.”
• Nick Mosher ’22 was awarded a Fulbright ETA to Kazakhstan.
• Anne Riter ’22 was awarded a Fulbright to Austria for her project, “Supporting Syrian Refugee Integration into Austria.”
• Mansi Tripathi ’22 received a Fulbright ETA to Colombia.

The Fulbright competition is administered at W&L by Matthew Loar, director of fellowships, with the support of the university’s Fellowships Committee.

“Working with our Fulbright applicants each year is one of my favorite parts of the job,” said Loar. “I admire and am invigorated by their energy, ambition and adventurousness. To be named a top-producing institution for a fifth consecutive year is a real testament to the work and vision of our applicants. I could not be prouder.”

The Fulbright Program was established over 75 years ago to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries. While 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’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, it benefits from additional support from foreign partner governments, non-governmental organizations, private organizations, corporate partnerships and individual donors, as well as U.S. and foreign host institutions.

Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors and the world. A­mong them are 41 heads of state or government, 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders and changemakers who carry forward the Fulbright mission of enhancing mutual understanding.

“Thanks to the visionary leadership of these institutions, administrators, and advisors, a new generation of Fulbrighters — changemakers, as I like to say — will catalyze lasting impact on their campus, in their communities, and around the world,” said Satterfield.

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit eca.state.gov/fulbright. W&L students interested in applying for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program should contact Matthew Loar in the Houston H. Harte Center for Teaching and Learning (Leyburn 114) or by email at mloar@wlu.edu.