W&L’s Thomas Leggett ’25 Selected for Fulbright to Taiwan Leggett received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Taiwan and plans to pursue a career in civil engineering.

By Emily Innes
June 11, 2025

Washington and Lee University graduate Thomas Leggett ’25 has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to teach English in Taiwan. At W&L, Leggett double majored in engineering and East Asian languages and literature, with a concentration in Chinese. Leggett is from Arlington, Virginia, and graduated from Bishop O’Connell High School.

The ETA program in Taiwan is designed to help improve English language instruction in Taiwan’s elementary schools, junior high schools and universities, as well as strengthen the educational and cultural relationships between the United States and Taiwan.

Leggett studied abroad in Taiwan during Spring Term of his junior year, and the opportunity to return to Taiwan is a “natural summit” to his language journey. He is also eager to continue learning Mandarin, which he first began studying in earnest at W&L, and he hopes improving his language skills will open both career and personal opportunities.

“The Fulbright award will allow me to develop my education and general communication abilities in a challenging environment,” said Leggett, who will be placed in the southern port city of Tainan, which has a population of 1.8 million people and is the oldest city on the island. “These skills will be important as I pursue a career informing, conveying and publicizing infrastructure design. In addition, the unique experience of living and working in urban Tainan will teach me lessons about the Taiwanese approach to life and urbanism that I can carry with me in my career.”

During his senior year, Leggett served as the president of Engineering Community Development (ECD), a student community service club that conducts engineering consulting/design projects in Lexington and beyond. Leggett views his time leading ECD as one of his most impactful experiences at W&L, as it was his first serious venture into leadership and project management. He appreciated the opportunity ECD provided to directly work with and learn from communities, and the group’s work with local students at Waddell Elementary School and Central Elementary School was part of what inspired him to apply for the ETA.

Joel Kuehner, professor of physics and engineering at W&L, recalls Leggett’s active involvement in engineering design work through both his involvement with ECD and his coursework. Leggett’s engineering capstone design project was to develop an automated system for the 12-foot turntable used by W&L’s theater program, and Kuehner was impressed by the determination and attention to detail Leggett exhibited as he worked on the project with two other students.

“Thomas always sought input and acted upon it,” Kuehner said. “He does not shy away from the most difficult aspects of the design work, and in fact, embraces those moments. He was never discouraged or dissuaded, and in the end, the group produced a system that exceeded the initial design criteria and the expectations for the project.”

In addition to his involvement with ECD, Leggett served as president of W&L’s Chinese Club and played guitar in the University Jazz Ensemble. He worked in the Lenfest Center’s scene shop, where he built sets for various theater and dance productions, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes on the weekends at the Rockbridge County jobsite. He is grateful to the support he received from his mentors at W&L who advised and encouraged him during his four years on campus, including Kuehner, Jon Erickson, professor of engineering; Yanhong Zhu, head of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and professor of Chinese; and Dallas Tatman, assistant director of fellowships.

With the Fulbright award, Leggett will depart in July 2025 for his 11-month program. Upon completion of the program, Leggett plans to pursue a career in civil engineering and city planning, working to advance more sustainable development. He will be preparing graduate school and job applications in this field during his time in Taiwan.

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Washington and Lee University is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Students for the seventh consecutive year.

The Fulbright Program was established more than 75 years ago to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright is the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. 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.

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