CSB named a top-producing school for Fulbright awards again

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February 10, 2020

2019 Fulbrights

Five students received Fulbright English Teaching Assistants awards. They are (front row, left to right) Marisela Weber, Jackson Erdmann and Danica Simonet, and (back row, left to right) Michael Thompson and Ali McGraw. Erdmann eventually declined his award. (Photo by Tommy O’Laughlin ’13).

Jessie Thwaites

Jessie Thwaites received an Austrian Fulbright-Marshall Plan Award (photo by Shannon Govern ’19).

Isabel Huot-Link

Isabel Huot-Link

The College of Saint Benedict has been named one of the top producers of 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. students for the fifth time in six years by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

CSB is tied for 30th among bachelor’s institutions with five women who won Fulbright student awards for 2019-20. They are:

  • Jessie Thwaites ’19 was granted an Austrian Fulbright-Marshall Plan Award for research in Graz, Austria;
  • Ali McGraw ’19 received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) award to Germany;
  • Danica Simonet ’19 received a Fulbright ETA award to Germany;
  • Marisela Weber ’19 received a Fulbright ETA award to India;
  • Isabel Huot-Link ’19 received a Fulbright ETA award to Peru.

In addition to these five Bennies, Saint John’s University graduates Jackson Erdmann ’19 and Michael Thompson ’19 were both awarded Fulbright ETA awards. Erdmann eventually chose to decline his Fulbright ETA in order to pursue other opportunities.

Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine, led the list, with 24 awardees. CSB was one of 4 Minnesota schools listed among the top 30 bachelor’s institutions.

By combining the seven Fulbright student winners produced between CSB and SJU, that total would have tied for 18th among bachelor’s institutions.

CSB was also ranked in 2014-15 (No. 29), 2015-16 (No. 34), 2016-17 (No. 25) and 2018-19 (No. 33) among bachelor’s institutions.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study or research programs or English teaching assistant programs in many foreign countries for one academic year.

During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.

If you are interested in applying for a Fulbright award for the 2021-22 academic year, please contact Phil Kronebusch, professor of political science and coordinator of competitive scholarships at CSB and SJU, or Lindsey Gutsch, program coordinator for undergraduate research and competitive scholarships at CSB and SJU.