Nine current and former Florida State University students have earned scholarships through the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
Winners include graduate and undergraduate students and represent a host of majors and areas of research. Five will pursue teaching assistantships while the remaining four will conduct research. They’ll pursue that work in: Taiwan, Bulgaria, Scotland, Brazil, Spain and its Canary Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and one student will split their time between Greece and Türkiye.
Jesse Wieland, associate director of the Office of National Fellowships (ONF) at FSU, said the Fulbright application process is especially rigorous.
“This year’s Fulbright awardees spent many months and, in a few cases, years developing their research projects and preparing their application materials,” he said. “These students truly represent academic excellence and what is obtainable for FSU students at both the undergraduate and graduate degree levels.”
Wieland added that the hope from his office is that FSU’s Fulbright awardees inspire other students to dream big and embark on the application process. Bonnie Garcia-Gloeckner, assistant director at ONF, echoed Wieland.
“Undergraduate students, graduate students and recent alumni interested in applying for the current Fulbright cycle should contact our office now,” she said. “The first campus deadline is June 7 and we would welcome the opportunity to work with students and recent alumni on their applications.”
For more information, visit FSU’s Office of National Fellowships.
Rachel Harbin Blankenship
Memphis, Tennessee
Master’s student
Major: Art Therapy
Fulbright type: Fulbright/University of Stirling Award in Health, Well-being and Sport
Destination: Stirling, Scotland, UK
Fulbright work: Sport Psychology
Denisha Campbell
Chicago, Illinois
Doctoral candidate
Major: Communication Science and Disorders
Fulbright type: English Teaching Assistantship
Destination: Uruguay
Fulbright work: Interest in literacy practices
Miguel Gonzalez
Miami, Florida
Senior
Major: International Affairs
Fulbright type: English Teaching Assistantship
Destination: Brazil
Fulbright work: “Beyond teaching English, I will create and host multi-cultural activities on my designated university’s campus, and I will also work with local LGBT organizations to promote LGBT right and public health for all.”
Arria Hauldin
Cooper City, Florida
Graduated 2020
Major: Anthropology
Fulbright type: English Teaching Assistantship
Destination: Uzbekistan
Fulbright work: Teaching English at the university level
Mia Hernandez
Miramar, Florida
Graduated 2022
Major: Dual degree in English and Psychology
Fulbright type: English Teaching Assistantship
Destination: Canary Islands, Spain
Fulbright work: “I will be conducting a podcast project to spotlight the different refugee aid organizations in the Canary Islands, working to provide visibility for, and connect locals and non-locals to, resources in the community.”
Caitlin Mims
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Doctoral candidate
Major: Art History
Fulbright type: Greece-Turkey Joint Research Award
Destination: Greece and Türkiye
Fulbright work: Research into Byzantine amulets held in collections in Greece and Türkiye in order to understand the ways amulets slipped between the boundaries of magic and religion.
Rachel Neale
Crystal River, Florida
Master’s student
Major: Slavic studies
Fulbright type: Research
Destination: Bulgaria
Fulbright work: Bulgarian language study, research in Bulgarian oral-traditional epic to investigate Slavic women’s roles in societies within the Ottoman sphere of influence, translation of Bulgarian epic songs.
Michelle Perez
Miami, Florida
Graduated 2023
Major: Double major in International Affairs and Economics
Fulbright type: English Teaching Assistantship
Destination: Spain
Fulbright work: Teaching English in a high school setting and helping with Global Classrooms and Model United Nations.
Tessa Santner
Niceville, Florida
Graduated 2021
Major: East Asian Language and Culture Masters Degree, graduated 2021
Fulbright type: Master Degree Program award: National Kaohsiung Normal University
Destination: Taiwan
Fulbright work: Teaching Chinese as a Second, Foreign Language