Fourteen Graduates and Four Alumnae Awarded Fulbright Fellowships for 2006-2007

Bianca Barragan '06 was awarded a Fulbright teaching assistantship to South Korea. Barragan, an English and World Literature major with a minor in Spanish, always thought she would be a writer. Her calling began to shift during her second summer as a teaching assistant and was later reinforced after teaching came into her life again during a Pitzer in Ecuador program.

Veronica Briggs '02 was awarded a Fulbright to Indonesia. In December of 2002, Briggs graduated with a combined major in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Pitzer College.During a visit back to her alma mater to meet with Professor Nigel Boyle, Veronica made the determination to submit a Fulbright proposal to fulfill her desire to increase “Cross Cultural Dialogue and Mutual Understanding.” Briggs’s participation in the Pitzer in Nepal program inspired her interest in teaching.

Kathleen Brooks '06 was awarded the first Fulbright to Bosnia-Herzegovina teaching English as a foreign language. Fluent in German and French, Brooks was influenced by a mother who speaks five languages and who designed one of the most successful English as a Second Language programs in the United States. An International Intercultural Studies major, she participated in Pitzer’s exchange program to Landau.

Chris Burwick '06 was awarded a Fulbright to Germany. A German Studies and history major at Pitzer, Chris Burwick learned to speak German as a child at home. Ultimately, Burwick hopes to teach German as a foreign language in the U.S. combined with his interest in contemporary German music.

Sabrina Dence '06, was awarded a Fulbright to Panama to conduct research on the small island of Isla Colón in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. She studied primate research methods and conducting primate ecotourism research at a local field school. She received an invitation from the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation (ITEC) at Isla Colon, a non-profit education, research and conservation corporation that offers field ecology courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Dence participated in Pitzer’s summer health program in Costa Rica.

Yvonne Hong '05 was awarded a Fulbright to Turkey. Yvonne devoted most of her undergraduate years studying smoking-related disease and continued her pursuit in Turkey on "Kicking the Butt: Anti-Smoking Initiatives and Cultural Perceptions in Turkey." While at Pitzer, Hong was a student mentor, a member of student senate, a member of ILY, and a member of the External Studies Committee. She also studied abroad in the Pitzer in Turkey program and the Pitzer Summer Health Program in Costa Rica, and worked in the Admission Office.

Traci Kutaka ‘06 was awarded a Fulbright teaching assistantship to South Korea. In South Korea as an art history enthusiast and teacher, Kutaka used her non-teaching time to conduct a research project on the revitalization of traditional Korean painting styles. While at Pitzer, she completed an internship program in London where she worked with children with multiple learning disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorder.

Patrick Leue '06 was awarded a Fulbright to Venezuela to teach English. Leue became interested in teaching while in middle school when he tutored kindergartners in literacy acquisition. A double major in psychology and International/Intercultural Studies, Leue would like to teach internationally. Growing up around San Francisco with a Japanese-born mother and a German-born father, Japanese and German are high on his list of languages to learn.

Blair McGregor ’06 was awarded a Fulbright teaching assistantship to South Korea. After spending four years in the military, he worked full time to put himself through Pitzer. McGregor chose Korea because it was a country that he had visited briefly in the military and wished to learn more about. In Summer 2004, McGregor traveled to China and Russia with Professor of Environmental Studies Melinda Herrold-Menzies. While in Russia, McGregor spent time working at an English Language Immersion camp in Muraviovka Park.

Katrina Sitar '06 was awarded Pitzer's first Fulbright to Moldova. Sitar was a new resources student at Pitzer College. Sitar plans to use insights gained from her Fulbright experience in her future academic studies in art history in which she hopes to contribute to the inclusion of Roma in the existing art historical discourse on ethnic identity. For the academic year 2007-2008, Sitar is an Urban Fellow at the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues at Pitzer College.

Raumene Rahatzad '06 was awarded Pitzer's first Fulbright to Azerbaijan. He researched religion as it affects Azerbaijan’s national identity. During his junior year at Pitzer, he studied abroad in Amman, Jordan, researching how westernization has affected traditional notions of Arab beauty as expressed in classic literature and poetry. He graduated with honors in International/Intercultural Studies with a focus on the Middle East.

Kate Sherwood '06 was awarded a Fulbright to Thailand. She studied abroad in Spain in the fall of 2004. An art history major and nearly fluent in Spanish, Sherwood first thought she would visit a Spanish speaking country for her Fulbright. However, as she did more research on her options, Thailand caught her attention. While at Pitzer, Kate was a member of the 5-college improv group Without A Box, a leader of the Pitzer Outdoor Adventure Club, an avid worker in Pitzer’s Arboretum and a PACE discussion leader.

Michelle Swanson Lightfoot ‘06 was awarded a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Spain. She is fluent in Spanish as a second language and Nepali as a third. While at Pitzer, Swanson Lightfoot completed an internship in Loma Fria, Nicaragua where she worked on a women’s coffee cooperative simultaneously leading and/or co-teaching Spanish grammar and math to several women from the community. Swanson Lightfoot participated in the Pitzer in Darjeeling program. She also studied abroad in Costa Rica.

Alex Page ’06 was awarded a Fulbright teaching assistantship to South Korea. Page, a double major in English and World Literature, is interested in ceramics and mixed media as well as Environmental Studies. He participated in the Pitzer in Italy program during his junior year at Pitzer. His sister Juliete graduated from Pitzer College in 1996.

Pauline J. Yao '93, who had a combined major of Chinese language and art history at Pitzer, has received a Fulbright fellowship to study contemporary art in China in 2006-07. Yao's studies were an extension of her specialization in modern and contemporary art during her graduate studies and in her career.