UA grads receive Fulbrights

Two recent UA graduates will be pursuing their academic study free of charge thanks to the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

Kristen Trotter Chick and Sean Sylvia, both 2006 graduates, will receive round-trip transportation, tuition, book and research allowances and living expenses for an academic year, studying in a country of their choice.

The Fulbright Program, established in 1946, is the flagship international exchange program. The primary purpose of the program is to increase mutual understanding among nations at the individual level by making it possible for qualified graduates to live and interact with other cultures as they pursue graduate studies and research, said Jane Stanfield, associate provost for international education.

Chick double majored in journalism and political science and will be using her scholarship to study Arabic in Cairo, Egypt. Chick received a Critical Language Enhancement Award in addition to her Fulbright scholarship, extending her stay in Egypt to one calendar year. She said she hopes to build on the six semesters of Arabic she's taken both at the Capstone and in Cairo.

"The Middle East is really important today and having reliable news from the Middle East is really important," Chick said. "I want to be a reporter in the Middle East so in order to be a good reporter I need to be able to speak directly to the people and cut out the go-between."

Stanfield said she has known Chick for several years and has even taken her to a Women's Leadership Conference in the United Arab Emirates as part of a group.

"It was evident to me at the time that Kristen's intellect and knowledge of the Arabic language would take her far," Stanfield said. "By the time we began work on her Fulbright application, it was obvious to me that she had a very strong chance of receiving a fellowship."

Sylvia, a Prattville native who majored in economics and minored in Chinese, will be using his scholarship to study in China until June. He will be based at Northwest University in Xi'an and will conduct his research in the northern Shaanxi province. According to a UA news release, he plans to study factors affecting the availability and composition of financing in small-scale rural entrepreneurs and the lack of formal credit and financial systems in rural areas.

Stanfield, who got to work with Sylvia on his Fulbright application through e-mail, said the University is proud that two of three academic study candidates for the Fulbright scholarship were selected.

"Sean's past record, his study of the Chinese language and his on-going study in China spoke to his sincerity and ability to be an outstanding Fulbrighter," Stanfield said.

Stanfield also said students interested in participating in the Fulbright program for the 2008-09 academic year can find information on their Web site at www.fulbright.org. Students may then follow up with an appointment with Stanfield by calling her office at 348-5256 or by e-mail at srodenbe@aalan.ua.edu.

"We are looking forward to another successful year," Stanfield said.