Two Valparaiso U. grads win Fulbright scholarships
Post-Tribune staff report May 13, 2011 9:58AM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
VALPARAISO — Two Valparaiso University recipients of a prestigious Fulbright award will continue their international studies while making a contribution to the cultures of Spain and Austria.
The award will allow 2011 VU graduate Alison Eyer, a Spanish and secondary education manor from Anchor, Ill., to immerse herself in a foreign culture and language, as well as prepare for a future teaching career while serving as an English teacher assistant in a bilingual school in Madrid.
The university’s other Fulbright recipient, Christopher Stohs, who graduated in 2010 with degrees in history and German, will teach English to students in Wolfsberg, Austria. Stohs is from Shawnee, Kan.
Eyer said she fell in love with Spain and Spanish culture while studying abroad in Granada in the fall of 2009. The experience, she added, inspired her to return and teach English.
Stohs would like to immerse himself in the German language while teaching his students English and about American history, life and culture.
Under the Fulbright program, Eyer and Stohs will begin their work in September and continue through June 2012.
“The fact that Valpo had two Fulbright recipients in 2011 continues the university’s stellar record in garnering these prestigious awards,” said Mel Piehl, dean of Christ College, VU’s honors college, who served as the university’s interim Fulbright adviser for 2011. “It testifies to the quality of internationally oriented programs here, as well as to the fine students who take advantage of them.”
Approximately 1,200 American students are offered grants annually through the Fulbright program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
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