The U.S. Department of Education has awarded grants totaling $306,628 to seven doctoral students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, 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.
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 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
The UW–Madison recipients (listed here 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
- Amy Porter, educational policy, Senegal, Poverty and Enterprise – Negotiating “Good” Economic Practice in Dakar, Senegal, $26,447
- Brett Reilly, history, France, The State of Vietnam, $80,669
- Nancy Rydberg, educational policy and development studies, Uganda, “If You Educate a Girl, You Educate a Nation” – Local Engagements with Global Girl’s Education Discourses in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda, $21,212
- William Shattuck, geography, Thailand, Rubber Mobs in Nakhon Si Thammarat – Roadblocks toward political change, $34,733
- Sarah Stefanos, environmental studies, Ethiopia, Cotton and Diaspora and Ethiopian Development, $50,100
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, http://fellowships.international.wisc.edu/.
– by Kerry G. Hill