For the 18th consecutive year, the University of South Carolina will be represented abroad next year by Fulbright US Student grantees conducting research, studying, and serving as English Teaching Assistants. This year our six Fulbright Finalists (those offered the Fulbright Student Grant) are Alexis Bantle, David Beek, Emily Fisher, Hanna Lamm, Tamera Sullivan and Danielle Wood. Four other UofSC applicants, Lisa Camp, Devon Cassidy, James Mayson and Krystal Rampalli, have been named Alternates.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation by the United States Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support.
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 380,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Each year, over 1,900 US students, artists, and young professionals in more than 100 fields of study are offered grants to study, teach English, and conduct research in over 160 countries worldwide.
In the United States, the Institute of International Education supports the implementation of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships.
Dr. Yvonne Ivory, Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Prof. Laura Kissel, Director and Professor, School of Visual Art and Design, Dr. Jeff Persels, Associate Professor of French, and Dr. Myriam Torres, Clinical Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, served as the University’s Fulbright Program Advisors this past year. They worked closely with many of this year’s pool of candidates as they crafted their winning applications. More than 35 other faculty members assisted in interviewing applicants as part of the campus evaluation process.
These students and others seeking national fellowships were assisted by the Office of Fellowships & Scholar Programs. For more information about the Fulbright US Student Program or other national competitions, contact the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs at 777-0958, or visit us online at www.sc.edu/ofsp.
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Finalists
Bantle graduated from the South Carolina Honors College this May with a major in Biological Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. During her time at UofSC, she has conducted undergraduate research on campus, in Germany through the DAAD RISE scholarship, and through the NOAA Hollings scholarship. Bantle will be conducting research in Germany and plans to pursue a PhD in Molecular Biology at UC San Diego following her grant year.
Beek is a 2015 graduate of Central Michigan University and currently a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses primarily on twentieth century and twenty first-century literature from the Americas, in particular works from the United States and Brazil. He has published an article adapted from his Master’s thesis entitled, “Faulkner’s Quixotic Picaresque: Carnival, Tricksters, and Rhizomatic Intertextuality in THE REIVERS.” He is in the early stages of completing his doctoral dissertation, which focuses on the diasporic connections between contemporary African American and Afro-Brazilian literature. He will be spending his Fulbright year conducting independent research at the Federal University of Paraíba in João Pessoa, Brazil.
Fisher is a South Carolina Honors College 2019 graduate, where she double-majored in English and Experimental Psychology with minors in Spanish and Communication Sciences Disorders. She was the Executive Director of the Waverly After School Program, a Magellan Scholar, a member of the Euphrosynean Literary Society, the Small Group Ministry Coordinator at her church on campus, and a member of Omicron Kappa Delta. She has volunteered at St. Lawrence Place and Pinehurst Park in the Columbia community since August 2015. From October 2016- June 2018 she conducted research as an Exploration Scholar in the South Carolina Research on Literacy and Language Lab at USC. She conducted research for her senior thesis as a Magellan Scholar under the guidance of Dr. Adlof in the SCROLL Lab. She plans to earn a Master’s in Speech Language Pathology, work in the public schools as a bilingual therapist, receive a PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences, and then work as a professor and researcher. She will spend the next year serving as an English Teaching Assistant in Spain.
Lamm graduated from the Darla Moore School of Business with a degree in Supply Chain & Operations Management as well as a directed study in Arabic in May 2018. Additionally, she has just completed her graduate certificate in TESOL. Currently, she works as a supply chain analyst for Daimler Trucks North America, managing exports for the aftermarket outbound supply chain team. Previously, she interned with the US Department of State assisting with curriculum design at the Foreign Service Institute. She has received an English Teaching Assistant grant to Israel.
Sullivan graduated from the South Carolina Honors College this May, with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Spanish. As a UofSC student, Sullivan has served as a Resident Mentor, Captain of the UofSC Marching Band Colorguard, and participated in the Global USC in Costa Rica study abroad program. She has also completed the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Physician-Scientist Program at SUNY Upstate Medical University where she conducted undergraduate research with Dr. Stewart Loh on p53 mutations while also shadowing the urologist Dr. Elizabeth Ferry. She has received a Fulbright study grant to pursue a Master’s in Global Health in Taiwan and plans to attend medical school to become a pediatrician after completing her degree.
Wood is a 2019 graduate of the University of South Carolina, where she majored in Music Performance with a minor in Mathematics. She has received a Fulbright to study at the University of Postdam in Germany during the 2019–2020 academic year. Her project, a comparative study of the performance of and audience appreciation for twentieth-century music in Germany and the US, will be advised by Dr. Christian Thorau, editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Listening. Her proximity to Berlin will also facilitate research in the archives of the Berlin Philharmonic. Upon completion of the Fulbright, Wood plans to obtain a master's in music cognition and hopes to pursue a career as a professor with emphasis on researching music accessibility, mathematics, and cognitive science.
Alternates
Camp graduated with a degree in English from Clemson University in 2014 and completed a Master’s in English Language and Literature at UofSC in 2018. She received the Faculty International Development Award (FIDA) for study abroad at the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra, Ghana, in Summer 2018. She is author of "'Time to Ride the Monster Train': Multiplicity, the Midnighter, and the threat to Hegemonic Superhero Masculinity" in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (Fall 2017), and co-author of "Closing the Feedback Loop: Visible Learning with Intentional Reflection" in NASPA's 2018 Synergy newsletter and "Integrative Learning and Graduation with Leadership Distinction: ePortfolios and Institutional Change" in Catalyst in Action: Case Studies of High Impact ePortfolio Practice (Stylus, 2018). Camp was named an alternate for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Kazakhstan.
Cassidy is a 2019 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College where she studied Public Health. At South Carolina she conducted neuroscience researching earning the Honors College SURF Grant and Magellan Grant to fund her work studying axon regeneration after spinal cord injury. She spent two summers researching ALS at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, volunteered at the Free Medical Clinic for three years, served as Alpha Delta Pi’s Scholarship Chair, Carolina Health Outreach’s Volunteer Outreach Coordinator, and Omega Phi Alpha’s Active District Officer. Cassidy was named an alternate for a Fulbright grant to the U.K.
Mayson graduated from the South Carolina Honors College this May with double majors in Biology and Spanish with a minor in Mathematics. Mayson was named an alternate for a study grant to Mexico where he would pursue a Master’s in Ecology focusing his research on duetting birds in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He plans to continue his studies and pursue a career as a university professor of biology.
Rampalli is a doctoral student and UofSC ASPH Arnold Fellow studying Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. She was named an alternate for a grant to Botswana and plans to pursue a career as a researcher in global health nutrition.