A record nine Dickinsonians have been honored with prestigious Fulbright grants in 2008. Jeremy Ball, assistant professor of history and campus liaison for the Fulbright program, calls it a “testament to Dickinson’s global education because it is our students’ language abilities and international education that gets them these awards.”

Christina Brumbach ’08 received an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant to teach in a secondary school in Rome. She also will develop pedagogy for Italians teaching English that will include lesson plans, a Web site and activity ideas. Brumbach’s interest in teaching began when she worked in an elementary school during her year abroad in Bologna, Italy, and she plans to do graduate work in linguistics.

A political-science major with an Italian minor, she felt “very supported by professors” during the application process. Tullio Pagano, associate professor of French and Italian, says Brumbach “matured while in Bologna, and something that helped was her interest in singing and participation in an Italian chorus.” On campus, she also was a member of choir, Collegium, the Bonner Leaders program and Pi Beta Phi.

Marissa Calfe ’08 will teach in Salerno, Italy, with her English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant. She will complete supplemental Italian instruction to help local immigrants achieve fluency in Italian and better integrate into the school system. An English and Italian double major, Calfe studied abroad in Bologna, Italy, was vice president of the Italian club, worked in the Writing Center and chaired a tutoring program for refugees in the Harrisburg area to prepare them for the GED exam.

“She was the only student in her sophomore exchange program with Bologna [via Skype] that pursued an in-depth exchange,” says Pagano. “She became friends with her correspondent and visited them in Bologna. She is very strong in literary studies and won the Paul FM Angiolillo Prize in Italian studies.”

Selina Carter ’06 was given one of two English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grants for a new program in Portugal. After graduating in 2006, Carter joined the Peace Corps and has served in El Cambio, Ecuador, with the National Institute of Youth and Families.

Carter teaches in public schools and community centers about sex education, leadership, self-esteem, art and sports, although her primary role is community organizer. She has promoted the new public library, helped start a youth leadership club, organized youth summer camps, started art contests and after-school art programs and began organizing a youth road race to promote exercise.

An international-studies and Spanish double major at Dickinson, Carter studied Portuguese for one year. She will teach high-school English and spend time in the community. “I am excited to learn about Portuguese society, check out the immigrant situation and be as inclusive as possible in the activities I’d like to pursue with my new Portuguese counterparts,” says Carter, who plans on a career as a diplomat.

Caitlin Hahn ’08 will study while teaching in a Hamburg, Germany, high school. Her English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant allows her to pursue German-language classes to achieve fluency and begin studying a Scandinavian language so that she can work toward comparative German and Scandinavian literature studies.

At Dickinson, Hahn was a Writing Center tutor and a member of Arts Haus, designed cover artwork for The Square and had a radio show. She majored in German and English and studied abroad in Bremen, Germany, for one year. “My year abroad in Bremen helped me gain the confidence to go back and be more outgoing,” she says.

Erica Lally ’08 will collect oral histories from three generations in a small community outside Moscow with her Fulbright research grant. She will look at the people as a microcosm of the history of Russian intelligentsia—the social and intellectual elite in Russia—and compare their experiences by generation. Lally’s tenure as president of the Union Philosophical Society and yearlong study-abroad experience in Moscow inspired her to study the small, philosophical society that is known to sustain debates well into the morning hours.

“I was very excited to get the grant,” says the international-studies major. “Dickinson did a lot to help me with the application process, and professors spent a lot of time with me brainstorming and strengthening my application.”

Anne Maiale ’08 will return to Germany with an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant and will teach 6- through 12-year-olds at Clara-Grunwald-Grundschule in the easter Kreuzberg district of Berlin. “I spent my junior year in Germany and a month of that in Berlin, which I loved, so getting placed in Berlin is a dream come true,” she says.

The German Fulbright program has a diversity initiative that places 20 applicants in schools with large immigrant populations. Maiale, whose application essay spoke of her desire to work with an immigrant-related nonprofit, was placed in one of these diversity positions. A German major with a math minor, Maiale was involved in college choir, orchestra and music ministry on campus. This summer she is working at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M.

Evan Sparling ’08 received a Fulbright research grant to Kyrgyzstan. He will study the legacy of the Soviet nationality policy through the post-Soviet generation’s understanding of it. Sparling also was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State, which allowed him to further his language acquisition in Russia this summer.

At Dickinson, his research paper won the Southern Conference on Slavic Studies’ undergraduate research paper award and the University of Pittsburgh’s European Studies Center Undergraduate Research Symposium. He also set a new school record for the men’s track team in the 5,000-meter Invitational, coming in at 14:49.10.

“He is possibly one of the hardest working students I’ve ever had,” says Karl Qualls, associate professor of history. “He takes on any task and fulfills it without any hesitation; he’s tenacious when it comes to research.”

Elizabeth Stokely ’08 will teach in Colombia with an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant. She will assist in English classes at Universidad Santiago de Cali and give cultural presentations about the United States. Stokely also will study migration in Colombia, particularly emigration to the United States and Spain, through interviews and studying the media’s portrayal of migration.

“I studied in Spain during my junior year, and that got me interested in migration patterns,” says the international-studies and Spanish double major. “After experiencing Western Europe, I really wanted to go to South America next. I am excited to be going to a country that is stigmatized by American media and isn’t frequented by Americans.”

At Dickinson, Stokely was president of the Spanish Club and volunteered off campus to teach English as a second language at the Carlisle Employment Skills Center and act as an interpreter for a medical clinic van at Biglerville High School that caters to the uninsured immigrant population.

Daniel Walter ’08 will teach at Gymnasium Eppendorf, a high school in Hamburg, Germany, through an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright grant. He also will select two authors, one from former East Germany and one from former West Germany, to study and compare their writing styles, themes and motifs—a study inspired by two classes he took with Wolfgang Müller, professor of German.

“This is such a great opportunity before going to grad school,” Walter says. He hopes to get a master’s degree in German and a doctorate in linguistics and second-language acquisition. At Dickinson he was a German major with a minor in education, spent one year in Bremen, Germany, and was a member of the men’s volleyball club, Delta Sigma Phi and German Club.

These nine alumni join the more than 60 Dickinsonians who have received Fulbright grants over the years. Fulbright gives recent college graduates, master’s degree and doctoral candidates, young professionals and artists opportunities for personal growth and international experience. The awards foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges.

To learn more about the program and application process, visit the Fulbright program Web site or contact Jeremy Ball (ballj@dickinson.edu).