KU News Release

KU students win Fulbright, Boren and German exchange research awards

LAWRENCE — Eight students at the University of Kansas have won prestigious awards for research and study abroad in the coming academic year.

Six students won Fulbright awards, one student received a Boren Graduate Fellowship, and one student received a German Academic Exchange Service Study Scholarship.

For more than a half century, the U.S. Student Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation programs, which are sponsored by the U.S. government, have offered highly qualified graduate students an unparalleled opportunity to study, conduct research or teach in other nations. The purpose of these programs is to increase mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange. Both grants provide funding for round-trip travel, maintenance for one academic year, health and accident insurance and, when relevant, tuition.

Since the program’s inception in 1946, 412 KU students, including this year’s awardees, have received Fulbright awards.

The Boren Graduate Fellowship program, funded by the National Security Education Program, provides U.S. students opportunities to study regions critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. These fellowships enable U.S. graduate students to add important international and language components to their graduate education through specialization in area study, language study or increased language proficiency.

The German Academic Exchange Service is a publicly funded, independent organization of higher education institutions in Germany. Its 14 international offices provide information as well as financial support to more than 55,000 highly qualified students, both undergraduate and graduate, and faculty per year for research and study in Germany.

KU’s International Programs office coordinates applications for Fulbright grants, Boren Graduate fellowships and German Academic Exchange Service Study Scholarships.

The award winners for the 2009-10:

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Leawood 66209
Mariam Ayesha Papa, who graduated with a doctor of pharmacy degree from KU in fall 2008, received a Fulbright grant to Jordan, where she will examine the perceptions, patterns of use and motivations for complementary and alternate medicine usage among Jordanians. Papa also received a Critical Language Enrichment Award for intensive Arabic language study both before and during her Fulbright grant. She has a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s degree from University of Nebraska. She is the daughter of Tanweer Papa and a Blue Valley North High School graduate.

From Mission Woods 66205
Andreas Teschner Graf, who earned bachelor’s degrees in political science, international studies and Germanic languages and literatures from KU in spring 2009, received a German Academic Exchange Service Study Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in international relations. He plans to study at either Free University or Humboldt University, both in Berlin, Germany. Graf is researching the development of German foreign policy after the country’s reunification at the end of the Cold War. He is the son of William Graf and a Shawnee Mission East High School graduate.

From Overland Park 66213
Sidney Eric Dement, doctoral student in Slavic languages and literatures, received both a U.S. Student Fulbright Program grant and a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation grant to Russia. He will research author Mikhail Bulgakov’s notebooks and manuscripts for the novel “Master and Margarita” at the Russian State Library’s Manuscript Division in Moscow. The award also will facilitate consultations with leading scholars in Bulgakov studies. Dement’s dissertation will be an original application of semiotic theory and a new reading of one of Russia’s most important 20th century novels. Dement has a master’s degree from KU and a bachelor’s degree from Mid-America Nazarene College.

From Roeland Park 66205
Kate Marie Mallula, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from KU in spring 2009, received a Fulbright grant for an academic year of study and research in Uruguay. Mallula will be affiliated with the Catholic University of Uruguay. She is researching the relationships of the state, the penitentiary and deviance in Uruguay between 1903 and 1958. She hopes to understand the implications of these relationships for Uruguayan history and the broader understanding of the state’s role in regulating and defining crime and deviance. She is the daughter of Catherine Creed and Isaac Mallula and is a Shawnee Mission East High School graduate.

COLORADO
From Highlands Ranch 80130
Hilary Brooke Hungerford, doctoral student in geography, received a U.S. Student Fulbright Program grant and a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation grant for research in Niger. Hungerford is researching the gendered experiences of water privatization in urban areas and will be examining how women navigate changes in access to water in poor and informal settlements in Niamey, Niger. Hungerford was a member of the Peace Corps in Benin and has studied abroad in Ghana as an undergraduate. She has a master’s degree from KU and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

IOWA
From Ames 50010
Ashley J. Elston, doctoral student in art history, received a Fulbright award to Italy to research underexplored late-medieval and Renaissance painted and sculptured reliquary cupboards in Padua and the Vento. This research, coupled with Elston’s earlier work in Florence and Siena, will be incorporated into her dissertation. Elston completed a master’s degree at KU and a bachelor’s degree at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

NEBRASKA
From Harvard 68944
Brett Richard Chloupek, doctoral student in geography and master’s student in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies, received a Boren Graduate Fellowship to conduct a comparative study for his dissertation of the geographic changes in Roman Catholic adherence in three western Slavic countries: Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Chloupek will concentrate on identifying the major periods of secular and sacral change, as well as the political, social and cultural forces behind these changes in Slovakia. As part of the fellowship, he will also be engaged in an intensive study of Slovak. He has a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

From Omaha 68137
Robert J. Gordy, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from KU in spring 2009, received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship award to Malta. Gordy will assist with English language classes at the secondary and university levels. Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships are now offered in more than 40 countries. Gordy will be one of the first receiving an English Teaching Assistantship to be assigned to Malta. He is the son of Jan Kennedy and Brent Gordy and is a Millard South High School graduate.

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