Five Macalester Graduating Seniors and One Alumna Receive Fulbrights

Kelsey Austin-King (l), Wren Brennan (r)
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Five Macalester Graduating Seniors and One Alumna Receive Fulbrights

Sarah Horowitz (l), Sarah Koehler (r)
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Five Macalester Graduating Seniors and One Alumna Receive Fulbrights

Elizabeth Nelson (l) and alumnae Julia Hechler (r)
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St. Paul, Minn. – Macalester graduating seniors Kelsey Austin-King, Wren Brennan, Sarah Horowitz, Sarah Koehler and Elizabeth Nelson and alumna Julia Hechler have all received Fulbright Awards to work in Columbia, Brazil, China, Sri Lanka, Germany and France.

Kelsey Austin-King ’13, a double major in English and Educational Studies from Menlo Park, Calif., received an English Teaching Assistantship and will be assigned as a language-learning assistant to teach English to university students in Bogotá, Colombia for up to 20 hours per week.  She will also engage in a social or community outreach project related to her academic and personal interests. The fellowship starts in August and lasts ten months.  Afterwards, Austin-King plans to find a job in education in the Bay Area and apply to graduate school.

Wren Brennan ’13, a double major in Anthropology and English from Seattle, Wash., received an English Teaching Assistantship to Brazil and will be assigned as a language-learning assistant working up to 20-25 hours per week. Brennan will develop and lead language learning activities and classes under the supervision of faculty, and promote U.S. culture through cultural and social programs. She will be abroad for the academic year, from March – November 2014, and while there, Brennan will also be conducting independent research with an interview-based project on local perspectives on (and interactions with) inland and coastal water sources. When she returns to the U.S., she plans to write and tutor.

Sarah Horowitz ’13, a double major in Chinese and Geography from Pelham, Mass., received a full grant to investigate periurban (of or relating to an area immediately surrounding a city or town) agriculture in China. Through case studies in Wuhan and Beijing, her Fulbright project seeks to investigate two interrelated questions: How are urban and periurban agriculture being integrated into city planning and policy?  What economic opportunities do these new forms of agriculture provide to farmers and migrant laborers? Horowitz’s Fulbright will last 10 months and start in September. Afterwards, she hopes to pursue an advanced degree in political ecology or development studies and possibly do work related to sustainable agriculture and rural development in China.

Sarah Koehler ’13, an Anthropology major from Ames, Iowa, received a Fulbright to study classical Kandyan dance in Sri Lanka for nine months starting in October.  This involves intensively studying the dance technique as well as interviewing dancers and instructors about the role of Kandyan dance in their communities and in Sri Lanka.  She will study with the acclaimed Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Company in Colombo for some time, and then possibly continue her dance instruction in Kandy with other instructors.  When she returns, she hopes to conduct workshops in Kandyan dance and later go to graduate school, perhaps in Anthropology or South Asian studies.

Elizabeth Nelson ’13, an Economics and German Studies double major from Grand Rapids, Mich., received an English Teaching Assistantship to Germany beginning in September where she’ll be placed as a teaching assistant in English classes at all types of German schools. Teaching assistants help English teachers in the classroom approximately 12 hours per week. Previously, Nelson had studied abroad in Vienna and looks forward to learning about a new place, integrating into a new community and dialect, and experiencing a different aspect of Germanic culture.  Her future plans may include teaching, but she’s also interested in nonprofit management and community economic development. 

Julia Hechler ’11, a French major and English minor from Seattle, Wash., received a Fulbright research/study grant to produce a documentary about a form of language that thousands of youths in France speak, many of whom are of immigrant descent. She will interview youths, their family and friends, sociologists, linguists, and people in France who speak standard-French.  Hechler will be in France for nine months.  After her time abroad, she may attend graduate school for Anthropology. Her professional goals include working in non-fiction film and in documentary-style news.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,035 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu

May 8 2013

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