Oberlin Named Top Producer of Fulbright Students for 2024-25

Oberlin is perennially a top producer of Fulbright awardees, a group colloquially called Fulbrighters. This marks the 16th consecutive year that the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State has recognized Oberlin as a Top Producer of Fulbright students.

“It’s a point of pride for everyone on campus that Oberlin is a top producer of Fulbright winners year after year,” says Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar. “Our achievement this year is especially rewarding and reflects the considerable time, energy, and resources we invest in our students’ success. These Fulbrighters are sharing Oberlin’s excellence with the world.”

The Fulbright Program is the federal government’s flagship international academic exchange program. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Scott Weinhold commended President Ambar and Oberlin’s Awards and Fellowship team for their hard work in promoting the Fulbright Program to the students and faculty on campus.

“Oberlin College’s designation as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution clearly demonstrates your dedication to promoting global engagement and mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,” he wrote.

Oberlin’s approach, says Danielle Abdon, Director of Fellowships and Awards, includes guidance tailored to each student throughout the application process. “Individualized comprehensive assistance is crucial because these applications are so complex and take months to complete,” she says. Students have access to multiple information sessions and one-on-one meetings, access to faculty and staff experts trained to read Fulbright applications, and the ability to submit essay drafts for unlimited revisions. Oberlin’s Writing Center is also staffed to support Fulbright applications, essentially ensuring that students can get round-the-clock assistance on their materials.

“This accomplishment builds on Oberlin’s long history of success in Fulbright applications and could not be done without unwavering administrative support for fellowships,” Abdon says. “It also embodies our students’ academic strength and their unparalleled access to incredibly relevant co-curricular opportunities. This includes everything from the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), which supports students conducting faculty-mentored research, to international immersion experiences sponsored by Study Away. Through this work, we are forming ideal candidates for opportunities like Fulbright.”

Oberlin students who won Fulbrights for the 2024-2025 academic year include:

• Joshua Bowen ’24 earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Kazakhstan..
• Amelia Bronfman ’24, a geosciences major who earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Colombia, is teaching English in Neiva while embarking on a community service project teaching children about the conservation of local birds.
• Phoebe Brown ’24, a biology major who earned minors in Spanish and dance and had concentrations in global health and education studies, is teaching English in an early education school in the Canary Islands thanks to a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain.
• Faythe Cooper ’24, a biology major with an East Asian Studies minor, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan.
• Nik Divall ’24 earned a Fulbright study/research award to Germany and is living in the German port city of Bremen, pursuing a master’s degree in historical performance, basso continuo.
• Elsa Friedmann ’24, an English and history double major, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany, giving her the opportunity to teach English in Hamburg.
• Sophia Gliatto ’24, a double major in Hispanic studies and comparative American studies, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Mexico.
• Ricarda Hill ’24, who studied environmental science and public health, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany and ended up participating in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals program.
• Iris Junker ’24, an East Asian studies major who minored in art history, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan and is teaching in Taitung.
• Cameron Montague ’24, a double major in psychology and comparative American studies, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Colombia.
• Nick Morgan ’18, a Hispanic Studies major, is earning a master's degree in Global and International Studies at the University of Salamanca in Spain.
• Simon Nosek ’24, a politics and religion major with a minor in Jewish studies, earned an English Teaching Assistantship to the Czech Republic.
• Alea Strasser ’24, a biology major, earned a research Fulbright for the Denmark-Greenland Arctic Research Program.
• Lea Watkins-Chow ’22, an environmental studies major, is earning a master’s degree in Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University.
• Conner Wyman ’24, a politics and history double major, earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Paraguay. Based in the capital city of Asunción, he's also leading cultural events at the National University of Asunción.

About Fulbright

Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities and the world and have included 41 heads of state, 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders and changemakers who build mutual understanding between the people of the United State and the people of other countries. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit fulbrightprogram.org.

To learn more about fellowship opportunities at Oberlin, visit our Center for Engaged Liberal Arts Fellowships and Awards page or make an appointment with Danielle Abdon. Please sign up for any available time or send an email to fellowships@oberlin.edu