Yale Produces Most 2006 Fulbright Winners

With 31 of its students awarded Fulbright grants this year to study or teach abroad, Yale University has been singled out as the “top producer” institution participating in the prestigious program.

The 60-year-old international exchange program, which is funded by the U.S. Congress through the State Department, offers graduate students, scholars and young professionals an opportunity to conduct research, take courses or teach worldwide; and affords students from other countries the same academic opportunities in the United States.

The largest U.S. exchange program of its kind, the Fulbright this year awarded 1,300 grants to Americans in all fields of study. The program operates in more than 140 countries.

Since Fulbrights are only granted to individuals who have already earned their bachelor’s degrees, only undergraduates in their senior year are eligible to apply. The grant is applied the following academic year.

Yale College also broke its own record for number of applicants, 58, according to Linda De Laurentis, who oversees the program for undergraduates. For the academic year 2007–2008 (that is, this year’s seniors), Yale has 62 applicants, notes De Laurentis.

Studying attitudes toward disabilities in a remote town in the Himalayas, translating a major collection of Syrian short stories from Arabic to English in Damascus, working to improve the water system in a rural town in Peru and conducting research on autism at the University of Cambridge are among the projects undertaken by this year’s Fulbright scholars.