PAST FULBRIGHT STUDENTS ON CAMPUS

FULBRIGHT STUDENTS ON CAMPUS 2011-2012


photo credit:  Lisa Glover

(L to R)  Hayarpi Papikyan, Fatih Aktas, Candice Sankarsingh, Goma Mabika, Hind Haitham, Marina Kudosova, Marcella Gamallo, Tsita Molapo, Roman Dusyk, Leary Pakiding and Kristian Schmidt

• Marina Kudasova, from Russia, studying Comparative and International Education.
  
• Roman Dusyk, from Ukraine, studying Analytical Finance.
  
• Tsita Molapo, from Lesotho, studying Renewable Energy.
  
• Waris Ahmad, from Afghanistan, studying Political Science.
  
• Mujahed Noor, from Afghanistan, studying Structural Engineering.
  
• Batlkhagva Batsuren, from Mongolia, studying Energy Management.
  
• Hind Haitham, Yemen, studying American Studies.
  
• Semra Mese, from Turkey, studying American Studies.
  
• Fatih Aktas, from Turkey, studying Comparative and International Education.

Lehigh welcomed 6 Fulbright students and 2 Fulbright Scholars in 2010-2011l.

The Students include:

• Ahmad Hossain, from Afghanistan, studying Structural Engineering
  
• Goma Mabika, from Congo, studying Comparative and International Education
  
• Kristian Schmidt, from New Zealand, studying Comparative and International Education
  
• Candice Sankarsingh, from Trinidad and Tobago, studying Educational Technology
  
• Leary Pakiding, from Indonesia, studying Structural Engineering
  
• Karys Moreno, from Panama, studying Energy Systems

Scholars include:

• Ivan Solsoev, from Russia, who will conduct research with Prof. Ed Whitley in American Studies
  
• Maksym Radiuk, from Ukraine, who will conduct research with Prof. Ed Levy in the Energy Research Center

Hayarpi Papikyan, a Muskie Fellow from Armenia, studying Comparative and International Education, also joined us in Fall 2010.

Lehigh welcomed three new Fulbright Students in graduate programs in the fall of 2009: Olga Zhakova and Lena Zubenko from Russia, and Tsering Dhundup, a Tibetan refugee living in India.

Ms. Zhakova, a native of St.Petersburg, is not new to the US, having spent a semester in America as an undergraduate exchange student.  While on campus her research will be centered on film in the American Studies department.

Although the two share a nationality, Ms. Zubenko, was raised many time zones away from her colleague. Ms. Zubenko lives so close to the Russian/Chinese boarder that she can see a Chinese city just across the river. She has also joined the American Studies program and will be on campus for two years. Her academic interests include American foreign policy and intercultural communication.

Mr. Dhundup, whose parents fled Tibet in the early 1960s for refuge in Northern India, selected Lehigh for its active research on seismology and environmental sciences, in hopes that he can conduct extensive research on the deteriorating situation of the fragile ecosystem in Tibet. He aspires to work at the newly established Tibetan college in India and to pursue his Ph.D. in similar studies.

Left to Right: Olga Zhakova, Lena Zubenko, Tsering Dhundup

 

Fulbright Profile: Miguel Zambrano

For Miguel Zambrano, his time as a visiting Fulbright graduate student at Lehigh has been a rare experience, and one that he’s privileged to have received. Yet he would be quick to caution other prospective Fulbrighters that the experience is a challenge more than anything else. While at Lehigh, Miguel says, he has put his skills as a father, a husband, and as a human being to the test, and in the process, his whole idea of the world has changed.

Miguel has spoken to many different audiences during his two-year stay at Lehigh, from his colleagues in the College of Education during Lehigh’s International Week, to a group of ESL teachers, to elementary school children at Moravian Academy and Holy Infancy in South Bethlehem, where his daughter attended prekindergarten. His topic was usually his area of expertise: the use of instructional technology in his home country, Peru. Despite the variety of people he has had the chance to interact with, he has come to the understanding that people’s identities, regardless of their background, are much more a product of their character than their possessions. Miguel includes himself in that understanding, knowing that he can best represent his homeland by, paradoxically perhaps, being himself: humble and sincere.

Miguel doesn’t pinpoint his change of perspective on any one significant event, but on a series of meetings with people who have offered their hospitality, sympathy, and support to the Zambrano family. He mentions the Colombian storeowner who worked below his apartment and befriended his wife. He mentions the parishioners at Holy Infancy, whose support was a constant aid to transitioning to life in America. He mentions invitations to Thanksgivings, Christmases and numerous other occasions. Even when dealing with snowy Pennsylvania winters, the challenges of life in Bethlehem without a car, or the English-Spanish language barrier (though his daughter’s gotten quite good at English), the kindness of friends, neighbors and colleagues has made Miguel’s stay here a life-changing experience.

Having graduated in May 2010 with a Master’s of Science in Instructional Technology, Miguel and his family are set to move on to the next challenge in their lives: a position as Middle School Technology & Learning Coordinator at a premier international school in Bangkok, Thailand. While Bangkok may seem like a world away from Bethlehem, Miguel’s Fulbright experience has given him the inspiration and passion to seek out new challenges in his development as an educator. While he eventually hopes to return to Peru and help his country develop its educational system, for now he takes great pride in the prospect of representing his country proudly to the worldly.

Speaking with Miguel, his positive attitude and spirit become infectious. As the end of his Lehigh experience was approaching, he said that he felt like he had wings. After a twenty-minute conversation with him, you begin to feel as though you do too.

UMER IZHAR

In May 2010, the College of Engineering awarded Pakistani Fulbrighter Umer Izhar a PhD. Read about his Lehigh experience here.

For additional information, please contact Bill Hunter, Fulbright On-Campus Representative, at wdh3@lehigh.edu. 

Photos by Michelle Sibley