UofL announces winners of prestigious scholarships

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville today announced that 11 recent graduates have won Fulbright scholarships and 11 scholars have earned other prominent international awards. All of the scholars are from Kentucky.

“This is certainly exciting news for our institution,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “But what’s even more important, these prestigious awards are a perfect example of how our campus community puts students first. If you read the web page profiles on these award-winning scholars, you will see many examples of how our faculty, staff and administrators have inspired and mentored students on their academic journey. That’s something that really sets UofL apart from other institutions.”

Louisvillian Karen Udoh, who earned a Fulbright to conduct research in Greece, said UofL’s culture supports students who seek academia’s top awards.

“UofL introduced me to research opportunities,” Udoh said. “Being in the honors program—they let you know what opportunities you can pursue. They helped me believe in myself.”

Including this year, there have been 121 UofL Fulbright scholars since 2003 — more than all other Kentucky public institutions combined. The university set a record in 2016 with 15 scholars, besting the previous record of 14 scholars in 2010 and again in 2011.

The scholars listed below graduated this semester unless otherwise noted:

 U.S. Student Fulbright Scholars

• Christian Bush, Louisville, a political science, history and Asian studies major who will teach in Macau.
• Devin Brown, Louisville, a political science major who will teach in Turkey. Brown also earned a Critical Language Scholarship (see below).
• Robert Gassman, Louisville, a political science, history and Asian studies major who will teach in Taiwan.
• Kimber Guinn, Somerset, 2016 graduate, a higher education administration major who will teach in Romania.
• Kyle Hilbrecht, Louisville, a political science major who will teach in Laos.
• Emma Jacobs, Edgewood, a biology and Spanish major who will teach in Spain.
• Katie Maurer, Fort Mitchell, a Spanish and education major who will teach in Spain.
• James Miller, Louisville, an English and Spanish major who will teach in Spain.
• Lee Sims, Harrodsburg, a bioengineering major who will conduct research in the United Kingdom.
• Karen Udoh, Louisville, a biology major who will conduct research in Greece.
• Adam Vest, Louisville, expects to graduate in summer 2018, a computer engineering/computer science major who will conduct research in Canada.

Rotary Global Grant Scholar

• Nicole Robertson, Alexandria, a biology and public health major who will use her award to earn a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine in Scotland and conduct research in sub-Saharan Africa.

Critical Language Scholarship

• Devin Brown, Louisville, a political science major who will study the Turkish language in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
• Lance Gibson, Henderson, a senior English, French and humanities major who will study Arabic in Morocco.
• Tasneem Karim, Louisville, an anthropology major who will study Arabic in Morocco.
• Natasha Mundkur, Louisville, a senior political science major who will study Hindi in India.
• Nada Kaissieh, Bardstown, a sophomore economics and neuroscience major who will study Arabic in Morocco.

Boren Award

• Morgan Parsons, Elizabethtown, a junior economics and women’s and gender studies major who will study Swahili in Tanzania.
• Macey Mayes, Central City, a political science major who will study the Indonesian language in Indonesia.
• Ronica Hutchison, Falmouth, a political science, philosophy and history major who will study the Portuguese language in Mozambique.

Public Policy and International Affairs

• Benjamin Anderson, Louisville, a senior political science major who expects to graduate in spring 2019, will take part in the PPIA program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College.
• John Rhodes, Lexington, a senior public health major who expects to graduate in spring 2019, will take part in the PPIA program at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

For more on the top scholars, contact Cindy Hess at 502-852-1105 or visit the scholar website.