Full of Fulbrights

Ip is part of a record-breaking number of Fulbright semi-finalists and finalists (or winners) in a single year who are part of the Montclair State community. Earlier this semester, five Red Hawk students were announced as Fulbright U.S. Student Program semi-finalists.

In addition to Ip, the three student finalists are Carmen Rosario ’20 and Blenda Alexandre ’15, ’19 MA. (The two student semi-finalists are Alyssa Clauhs ’17 and Archana Prasad ’18.) In addition, recent doctoral graduate Gail Perry-Ryder ’20 PhD and Peter E. Siegel, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, have been selected as Fulbright U.S. Scholars.

Gail Perry-Ryder won the Fulbright scholarship for her work in Barbados where she is studying how a nation’s educational systems respond to social transformation. “Forty percent of the grant will be spent documenting the experiences of Barbadian teachers managing the impact of local and national policies instituted in response to the coronavirus pandemic,” says Perry-Ryder, with 60% of her time spent assisting Erdiston College with the development of a research center to promote faculty and student research on issues of teaching and learning.

“I am most excited because the information I learn could potentially benefit struggling teachers, teacher candidates whose studies have been interrupted, and students whose schooling has been totally transformed over the past year.”

Carmen Rosario will be working in the Canary Islands of Spain as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA). She says that as a first generation college student, she doubted herself and experienced a letdown when her Peace Corps mission to the Dominican Republic was canceled last year due to the pandemic.

“When I found out about my acceptance into Fulbright, I almost couldn’t believe it. With the pandemic and so many changes happening around me I didn’t have any expectations,” she says, adding that after the news sank in, “I felt a sense of relief and pride because my biggest goal after graduation was to work abroad before applying to graduate school. I am extremely grateful and I’m excited to see how I will grow personally and professionally and hopefully inspire other first-generation college students to never limit themselves. My mantra is always to apply ourselves and dream big!”

Blenda P. Alexandre will be working in South Korea. “My goal is to learn more about cultural exchange within schools,” she says. “With the English Teaching Assistantships position, I will have firsthand experience in how it manifests in the classroom. My students will be able to learn American culture through my lenses and vice versa.”