Fulbright Program opens doors internationally for Purdue scholars, students

There is no shortage of ways for Purdue students and faculty to transport themselves from a classroom or lab in West Lafayette to an institution of higher learning in a foreign country. But for many, the Fulbright Program was the vehicle that thrust their educational trajectory to the international level.

Both the Fulbright Scholar Program and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program are among the nation’s top educational and cultural exchange systems for students and educators who want to study, teach and conduct research.

International Education Week is Nov. 13-17, and Purdue University was named one of the top producers of Fulbright scholars and students for the 2022-23 academic year. Countries traveled to include Mexico, Cyprus, Germany and Sweden.

Chris Lukasik, Purdue professor of English and American studies, became the provost’s fellow for faculty Fulbright awards after he traveled to the Philippines as a Fulbright scholar and to Austria on a Fulbright specialist grant.

“For faculty, the Fulbright Scholar Program is one of the few prestigious award programs that is open to virtually any field of expertise,” Lukasik says.

Eight faculty members were named Fulbright scholars for 2023-24, including Bethany McGowan, associate professor in Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies. McGowan’s Fulbright journey brought her to Tampere University in Finland, where she taught a seven-week graduate course on managing information overflow during public health emergencies. She is also using her time abroad on research, examining how elements of Finland’s national literacy strategy could apply to the United States.

“A Fulbright scholar award offers faculty the opportunity to spend significant time abroad, establishing or strengthening collaborations with colleagues from other countries,” McGowan says. “Fulbright commissions, in my case the Fulbright Finland Foundation, do an amazing job of ensuring fellows are well supported and well connected during their visit.”

In 2019, human development and family science professor David Purpura traveled to KU Leuven in Belgium for a Fulbright fellowship that focused on research.

“The connections I made there have stayed with me today and really enhanced how I think about my research and expanded my worldview of educational research,” Purpura says.

Senior undergraduates at Purdue, as well as alumni who earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree from Purdue as their most recent degree, and current Purdue graduate students who will not have completed a PhD prior to the beginning of their grant year, are all eligible for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The program provides postbaccalaureate funding to study, research or teach abroad in more than 140 countries.

“The wonderful thing about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is that one can pursue the time abroad to take place immediately postbac, as a recent alum or during graduate studies. The time abroad can be spent teaching English, conducting research or pursuing degree studies, meaning one can customize their own experience,” says Veronica Schirm, director of the National and International Scholarships Office within the John Martinson Honors College.

For Andrew Santos, his Fulbright experience stemmed from his desire to see more of the world through the lens of physics and French. After graduating from Purdue in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in physics and minors in business French, mathematics and astronomy, Santos went to the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, to work with a team of scientists who were part of a Nobel Prize-winning physics experiment.

“It was terrifying to move to a different country in the middle of a pandemic to learn and conduct research in a foreign language. It was uncomfortable as much as it was rewarding, though,” Santos says. “Despite all the challenges, I would have never had the chance to speak a language I love while working for a neutrino physics experiment that keeps my curiosity and passions running wild.” 

While Purdue has dispatched dozens of students and faculty members around the world on behalf of the Fulbright Program, the university has also welcomed distinguished scholars who were sent to Purdue after becoming Fulbright awardees in their respective home countries.

Natasha Duncan, associate dean for academic and international affairs in the Honors College, heads the selection process for incoming Fulbright scholars to Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. Purdue is currently part of a 10-year partnership with Fulbright Brazil, and it is Duncan’s duty to designate a visiting scholar from Brazil each year.

“I think Purdue benefits in a number of ways, both in terms of research collaborations and the courses that the Fulbright scholars deliver. Many of the visiting scholars are also interested in engaging our students in an extracurricular capacity,” Duncan says.

Duncan worked with the College of Agriculture to select the current Brazilian scholar, Danilo Aguiar, an economics professor from Federal University in São Carlos, Brazil. During his semester in West Lafayette, Aguiar is teaching an interdisciplinary group of students within the Honors College about climate change economics.

He says one of the differences between teaching in Brazil and at Purdue is working with a smaller number of students.

“Since there are fewer students, we can enjoy more discussions, interactions, and you can learn more about each other,” Aguiar says. “When you are treated to 70 students, you can’t even remember the names of all students after the course is done. Here (in West Lafayette) we can have a closer relationship. In Brazil, I teach only to students majoring in economics, while here I have students from many disciplines. That has helped to broaden my perspective on teaching.”

Duncan says it’s been rewarding to see academic partnerships and other collaborations develop from the Fulbright Program, including co-authored articles, the Purdue-Brazil Fulbright Scholar Reception and a weeklong student exchange.

“I think in the original imagination of the program, we expected for there to be cross-pollination during the time the scholar is here, but we’re seeing longer-term results,” Duncan says.

On her time in Finland, McGowan says, “From embassy visits to research talks to giving lectures on American culture, it’s been a unique, wonderful experience.” 

Santos says Fulbright has helped shape how he sees the world: “Being a Fulbright student is to approach life from a different angle. It’s to realize that there can be many more dimensions to a worldview. It’s an adventure, an endeavor worth pursuing both personally and professionally.” 

Learn more about the Fulbright Scholar Program here. More information on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is also available online.