Hendrix Alumna, Watson Fellow to study Australian Creepy-Crawlies via Fulbright

CONWAY, Ark. (March 21, 2017) – Hendrix College alumna Jessa Thurman ’16 received a 2017-18 Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Australia.

Last spring, Thurman, a biology major and English (literary studies) minor from Hot Springs, Arkansas, was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a one-year grant for purposeful, independent study outside the United States, awarded to graduating seniors nominated by one of 40 partner colleges. Thurman visited Australia, Thailand, Brazil, Peru, and the United Kingdom to pursue her project titled “From Extermination to Appreciation: Ethnoentomology and Connecting to the World through Insects.”

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program of the United States. Thurman will represent the United States as a cultural ambassador while overseas, helping to enhance mutual understanding between Americans and the people in Australia.

About the Fulbright U.S. Student Program

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs.  A candidate will submit a Statement of Grant Purpose defining activities to take place during one academic year in a participating country outside the U.S. During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences.  The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding. For more information, visit www.us.fulbrightonline.org

Original posted on Hendrix College News