The University of Iowa is one of the top producers of Fulbright students for 2015-16, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Twelve University of Iowa students were awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to conduct research, attend graduate school, undertake creative projects, or serve as English teaching assistants abroad in the 2015–16 academic year. This is the greatest number of placements the UI has ever secured in a single calendar year, resulting in a tied ranking for 27th on a list of peer institutions.

The Fulbright Lunch & Learn series will continue with "A Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Ambassador: Fredrika Bremer’s Travels From the Stockholm Archipelago to the Caribbean." Featuring guest speaker Adriana Méndez Rodenas, a professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at the UI, this event will take place on March 4 from 12:30-1:20 p.m. in 1117 UCC.

Would you like to teach English, study, or do research abroad for an academic year at no cost? Join International Programs for the fourth-annual intensive Fulbright U.S. Student Program workshop on Friday, January 29, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in 2520 University Capitol Centre. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is open to juniors, seniors, graduate students, Ph.D. students, and recent graduates who are looking for international opportunities. Only U.S. citizens may apply.

Patrick Reed graduated with a Master in Fine Arts in papermaking and bookbinding from the UI Center for the Book in 2013. He received a Fulbright grant in 2014 to the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, for his project “Apocalyptic Themes of Natural Disaster in 16th and 21st Century Woodcut Prints.” He is currently back in Germany continuing his research through a DAAD Study Scholarship and Research Grant. International Programs interviewed Patrick to get his insights on living abroad, and how the experience affected his research.

Please join the Iowa Chapter of the Fulbright Association and UI International Programs for the kick-off to this year’s Fulbright Lunch & Learn Seminar Series on Thursday, October 8, 2015, from 12:30 – 1:20 p.m. in 1117, University Capitol Centre (Old Capitol Mall).

This summer, Meena Khandelwal was awarded over $83,000 by the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program to lead a group of UI students and faculty to India to investigate the curious case of the chulha- a wood fueled cook-stove- used in rural areas across India. Often cited as a cause of deforestation and pollution, efforts to replace them with solar cookers have been widespread but largely unsuccessful. This project will bring together UI engineers, anthropologists, urban planners, and historians to examine chulhas from every dimension: what has motivated efforts to improve them, what interventions have occurred, and why have these efforts tended to fail.

Delaney Nolan, an MFA candidate at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, traveled to Istanbul on a Stanley Award. She researched topics such as gender, sexuality, and feminism within modern and historical Turkish society, which enabled her to write two short stories. She reflects on her research and the lively city of Istanbul in the following story.

This year’s 13 UI recipients represents a 63 percent increase over the institution’s eight grant recipients last year, when it ranked 45th among peer institutions in number of Fulbright awards.

Thirteen University of Iowa students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants to conduct research, attend graduate school, undertake creative projects, or serve as English teaching assistants abroad in 2015–16. According to the most recent report on the Top Producers of U.S. Fulbright Scholars and Students, the UI has risen from 128th to 45th in the number of Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards among its peer institutions.

Thirteen University of Iowa students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants to conduct research, attend graduate school, undertake creative projects, or serve as English teaching assistants abroad in 2015–16. This year's recipients are: Brett Burk, Douglas Baker, Julia Cartwright, Daniel Goering, Quinn Hejlik, Clare Jones, Julia Julstrom-Agoyo, Sarah Mayer, Acacia Roberts, Steph Rue, Beatrice Smigasiewicz, Gloria Wenman, and Audrey Williams.

Clare Jones, of New Orleans, LA, has received a 2015-16 Fulbright U.S. Student Grant in Creative Writing to New Zealand and Polynesia where she will research and write a book of poetry titled “Neotype” that weaves together themes of botany, ornithology, and geology of the area.

Steph Rue, of Cleveland, OH, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Seoul, South Korea for 2015-16. Rue, who will graduate this May with an M.F.A. in Book Arts/Center for the Book from the University of Iowa, will focus her research on early monastic paper and book production methods, as well as the historical techniques and the spiritual underpinnings of Korean bookmaking.