Pitzer College Seniors and Alumni Awarded 24 Fulbright Fellowships

Claremont, Calif. (June 21, 2013) — Pitzer College’s most recent graduates have been awarded 24 Fulbright Fellowships, breaking the school record the College set last year.

Pitzer congratulates all its alumni who have received 2013-14 Fulbright Fellowships: Elisa Asdourian ’13, Sophie Beiers ’13, Ana Berry ’12, Sydney Calander ’13, Rachel Conrad ’13, Kristin Dobbin ’13, Karen Eisenhauer ’13, Alison Espinosa-Setchko ’13, Jason Fields ’12, Kayla Friedman-Barb ’13, Elizabeth Heinlein ’13, Acacia Hori ’13, Zara Howard ’13, Micah Huang ’13, Erin Komplin ’13, Joel Ledezma ’13, Gabriel Loewinger ’12, Lila Mendoza ’13, Hannah Miller ’13, Victoria Morales-O’Connor ’13, Nathan Pensler ’13, Julianna Quinn ’13, Jonathan Rice ’13 and Alyssa Solis ’13. Pitzer is on track to become the national student Fulbright leader among undergraduate colleges for the 4th consecutive year.

Asdourian, a double major in international and intercultural studies and Italian, will teach English in Armenia. She will draw on an array of teaching experiences, including those she gained while studying abroad on Pitzer’s program in Parma, Italy. Asdourian helped organize the International Extravaganza at Pitzer, an annual event that brings together international students, students who have studied abroad and retired international educators.

Beiers, a psychology major minoring in sociology, will teach English in Malaysia. Beiers will draw on teaching experience she gained while studying abroad in Ghana and volunteering locally with the nonprofit Jumpstart. She also plans to use music to help her students learn English.

Berry has been awarded a Fulbright to teach English in Malaysia. Her participation in Pitzer’s study abroad programs in China and Nepal deepened her interest in Asian studies. A 2012 graduate who majored in environmental analysis, Berry plans to incorporate outdoor activities into the language-learning process in Malaysia.

Calander, a psychology major with a studio art minor, will travel to Poland to teach and advise students at a university. Calander will draw on teaching experience she gained while on Pitzer’s study abroad program in Parma, Italy. She also plans to study street art in Poland.

Conrad will conduct a socio-environmental study of a watershed in Ecuador. Her Fulbright will build on experiences she gained on study abroad programs in Mexico and Ecuador. Conrad also received a Katie Lawson Memorial Endowed Award and a 2013 Napier Award for Creative Leadership. She is a self-designed double major in environmental analysis and Latin American society and environment.

Dobbin will research water management by community water associations in rural Honduras. She honed her research skills in Costa Rica through Pitzer’s study abroad program and an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Environmental Analysis Fellowship for Summer Research. An environmental analysis major, Dobbin also received a 2012 Udall Scholarship to support her plans to pursue a career related to the environment.

Eisenhauer, a combined linguistics and anthropology major, will teach English in Taiwan. She has studied Chinese language and culture and participated in Pitzer’s study abroad program in Beijing. Drawing on her experience as a Taiko drumming teacher, Eisenhauer plans to incorporate music into her language lessons in Taiwan.

Espinosa-Setchko will teach English in Spain, drawing on experience she gained while volunteering at Pitzer’s Community Engagement Center’s partner programs, Jumpstart and the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center. She participated in the Pitzer in Ontario program and studied abroad in Ecuador, Mexico and Costa Rica; she plans to further explore her interest in healthcare and issues of social justice in Spain. Espinosa-Setchko is a self-designed community healing and social engagement major and a Spanish minor.

Fields, a 2012 graduate with a degree in sociology, will work as a teacher and academic adviser at a university in Turkmenistan. His interest in central Asia arose out of his combat experience as a US Army infantryman in Afghanistan. Fields will also undertake research on veterans of the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan who live in Turkmenistan.

Friedman-Barb, a double major in media studies and studio art, will teach English at a university in Turkey. She gained teaching experience during her time studying abroad on Pitzer’s program in Parma, Italy and as a literacy teacher with the nonprofit Prototypes. Friedman-Barb will also research Turkish artists Esref Armagan, Bedri Baykam and Nese Erdok.

Heinlein, an environmental analysis major and Spanish minor, will teach English at a teacher-training college in Brazil as part of the country’s preparation for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. In Brazil, Heinlein will draw on experience she gained at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center and through Pitzer’s program in Costa Rica.

Hori, a neuroscience major with an anthropology minor, will teach English in Malaysia. Hori explored her interest in science, health and vaccine development through a summer research project in Costa Rica and Pitzer’s study abroad program in Botswana, where she interned with a traditional healer.

Howard, a gender and feminist studies and sociology combined major, has been awarded a Fulbright to Greece. Her research on healthcare and her experiences during the Pitzer in Costa Rica program sparked her interest in intercultural education. Howard will teach English at a local university using techniques she developed as an English-as-a-second-language tutor for day laborers at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.

Huang, a self-designed interdisciplinary preforming arts major, will conduct research with the Phralipe Independent Roma Association and the Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. He plans to perform with Romani musicians and collect oral histories. His project draws on his experience as a musician and performer.

Komplin, a self-designed double major in organizational studies and urban ecology, will teach English in Malaysia. Komplin studied abroad in Costa Rica and Mexico and served as a resident assistant while at Pitzer. She also plans to study island ecology while in Malaysia.

Ledezma, a Chicano/a-Latino/a studies and psychology double major, will teach English in Malaysia. Ledezma’s approach to teaching will draw on both his community engagement experience—at Camp Afflerbaugh-Paige and the Latino Student Union—and his time studying abroad on Pitzer programs in Costa Rica and Italy.

Loewinger, a 2012 graduate in neuroscience, has been awarded a Fulbright to Nepal. He will study whether drug addicts in Kathmandu who attend residential drug rehabilitation programs exhibit reduced HIV risk behaviors. Loewinger was on Pitzer’s program in Nepal in spring 2010. He is currently abroad on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.

Mendoza, an anthropology and environmental analysis double major, will teach English in a high school in South Korea. A McNair Scholar, Mendoza became interested in cross-cultural education during her time in the Pitzer in Nepal program.

Miller, a self-designed global health major and Asian studies minor, has been awarded a Fulbright to China. She will research the impact of China’s New Cooperative Medical System and its access to maternal health services in the Qinghai province. Miller’s project stems from her experiences in Asia, including studying abroad in the Pitzer in China program and in Shanghai on a US Department of State Critical Language Scholarship.

Morales-O’Connor, a double major in political studies and French, has been awarded a French Government English Teaching Assistantship. The competition for this award is administered through the Fulbright program. Trilingual in English, Spanish and French, Morales-O’Connor will make use of her experience in radio and on Pitzer’s Model UN team to teach English in France.
Pensler, a philosophy major, will study theories of scientific rationality at the Australian National University with the renowned formal epistemologist Alan Hájek. His research will focus on whether probabilistic accounts of scientific rationality can be unified with approaches that emphasize the importance of explanation. Pensler is the first Pitzer student to win a Fulbright to Australia.

Quinn, an anthropology and Spanish combined major and dance minor, has been awarded a Fulbright to Argentina. Building on her work as a choreographer and her teaching experience gained while studying abroad in Spain, Quinn will teach English at an Argentinian university. She also plans to study Tango and folk dancing.

Rice, a political studies major, will teach English in South Korea. He will draw on his experience in journalism, Model UN and Pitzer’s student government. His interest in Asian politics and society evolved during his participation in Pitzer’s study abroad program in Beijing. Rice was Student Senate President his senior year.

Solis, a double major in environmental analysis and political studies with a minor in dance, will teach English in Malaysia. She will draw on a reservoir of educational experience that includes being an ESL teacher, dance teacher and environmental studies teaching assistant and also a Pitzer Admission Fellow. Solis also plans to study Islamic culture in Malaysia.

Pitzer’s Fulbright Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, but they all bring to the Fulbright program a range of experiences that run the gamut from tutoring day laborers in Pomona to cultural immersion studies in Nepal.

“Pitzer students embody the College’s core values through their ability to combine rigorous academic study with a passion for social justice acquired through engaged learning experiences both locally and abroad,” said Nigel Boyle, Pitzer’s Fulbright adviser and the founding director of Pitzer’s Institute for Global/Local Action & Study.

The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Pitzer College as the top producer of Fulbright students among all US liberal arts colleges in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Pitzer has been the national leader in Fulbright Fellowships per 1,000 students for nine of the last 10 years.

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