Four L&S students receive Fulbright awards for doctoral research

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Four doctoral students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's College of Letters & Science have received grants from the U.S. Department of Education through the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) program.

The students will use their DDRA grants to conduct research in other countries for six to 12 months. The recipients (listed with field, destination country, research topic and grant amount) are:

  • Jacob Blanc, history, Brazil and Paraguay, Contested Development — Itaipu and the Meanings of Land and Opposition in Military Brazil, $45,204
  • David Chambers, geography, Thailand, The creation of "good" space among Thailand's Hmong, $48,265
  • Brett Reilly, history, France, The State of Vietnam, $80,669
  • William Shattuck, geography, Thailand, Rubber Mobs in Nakhon Si Thammarat — Roadblocks toward political change, $34,733

Overall, seven UW-Madison students received grants totaling $306,628.

Nationally, the education department awarded $2.94 million in DDRA fellowships to 83 doctoral students at 37 institutions in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

With seven awards, UW-Madison received the second-highest number of grants among all institutions, tied with the University of California, Berkley and just behind the University of California, Los Angeles, which received eight awards.

"All students need to develop global competencies to succeed in their careers and communities in the 21st century, and these programs provide critical support to help educators and students develop these skills," says Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The DDRA program is part of the larger Fulbright-Hays Program, which dates to 1961 when the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright sponsored legislation for several programs that aim to increase mutual understanding between America and the rest of the world.

For more information and guidance on applying for Fulbright student programs through UW-Madison, go to the International Fellowships Office website.

Story by Kerry Hill, Division of International Studies