Gazebo on Geneseo campus (SUNY Geneseo photo/Keith Walters '11)
For the sixth time in the past seven years, SUNY Geneseo has been named a Top Producer of Fulbright US Student awards, the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced in its annual article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Five Geneseo alumni were offered Fulbright US Student awards for 2023–24, placing the College tied for second among the more than 740 Carnegie Classification master’s degree institutions. Geneseo was the only SUNY school to be named to the list this year. The College also finished in the top three nationally in that classification in 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21.
The winners for 2023–24 were Laura D’Amico ’18 (Italy), Bryan Gilman-Orozco ’23 (Colombia), Julia Grunes ’23 (Israel), and Abdul Sanderson ’20 (Kyrgyzstan). A Fulbright grant to North Macedonia was declined. The prestigious program provides grants for individually designed study or research programs, or English teaching assistant programs, in many foreign countries.
For the 2017–18 Fulbright cycle, Geneseo was the first dedicated SUNY institution to be named a Top Producer of US Student awards in any category—bachelor’s, master’s, research, or special-focus four-year institutions. This is the eleventh year that the US Department of State has issued an annual list of Top Producer institutions in the Chronicle.
“Year after year Geneseo is recognized as one of the nation’s Top Producers of Fulbright US Student awards, which is a testament to the high-impact public liberal arts education we offer,” says Geneseo President Denise A. Battles. “The entire Geneseo community is proud that so many of our talented and service-minded alumni are annually serving as Fulbright cultural ambassadors in communities all across the globe, representing their country as they teach and study.”
The college’s historical total is now 51, with 39 awards coming in the past seven years and 47 since 2010. Award winners for the 2024–25 Fulbright US Student program competition will be announced beginning in March.
“The Geneseo community’s dedication to creating graduates who take seriously world citizenship is proven by the large number of Fulbright and Peace Corps placements our alumni annually earn, as well as the many students who study and intern abroad as undergraduates,” says Dan Blankenship, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Our success with the US Student program is due in large part to the mentoring and encouragement our students receive from internationally experienced faculty and staff who win Fulbright awards, study and do research in other countries, and lead our students on a myriad of study abroad trips.”
Fulbright US Student Program
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright US Student Program has provided more than 400,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. US students, artists, and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study are offered Fulbright grants to study, teach English, and conduct research abroad each year. The US Student Program operates in more than 140 countries throughout the world.
The Fulbright US Student Program was created by the US Department of State, funded by an annual appropriation from the US Congress to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education. The Fulbright program also awards grants to US scholars, teachers, and faculty to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, some 4,000 foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research, and teach foreign languages.
The Fulbright US Student competition is open to students and recent alumni. It is administered at Geneseo by Director of National Fellowships and Scholarships Michael Mills, who can be reached at millsm@geneseo.edu and 585-245-6002. For more information about the Fulbright and other nationally and internationally competitive scholarship and fellowship programs, visit Fellowships and Scholarships.