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Loyola Named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution

Headshots of the 8 Fulbright recipients
Clockwise from top left: Maggie Gillen, Justin Montague, Lena Haaf, Allie Weis, Nicole Schneider, Carla Blackwell, Marco Orsimarsi, Keenan Gibbons

Loyola University Maryland is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2019-2020 Fulbright U.S. Students. Each year the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces the top producing institutions for the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes the lists annually.

Top producing Fulbright program 2019The annual award highlights Loyola’s eight Fulbright students who received the prestigious award in 2019.

Loyola’s Fulbright Scholarship recipients were Maggie Gillen, ’19, Lena Haaf, ’19, Justin Montague, ’19, Nicole Schneider, ’19, Allie Weis, ’19, and alumni Carla Blackwell, M.Ed. ’16, Keenan Gibbons, ’18, and Marco Orsimarsi, ’15.

Over the past decade, more than 20 Loyola students and alumni have received the Fulbright Scholarship to teach, study, or conduct research aboard. Last year’s eight recipients marked a record year for the University.

“I feel the Fulbright’s mission is the golden standard of the same ethos of social responsibility, international mindedness, and constant challenge to improve. These values are also the basis of educational philosophy at Loyola,” said Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Ph.D., director of Pre-Health Programs and National Fellowships. “When students are applying for the Fulbright Scholarship, close connections between students and Loyola’s faculty create a strong foundation for them to succeed and build similar bonds internationally. Fulbright’s global mission of peace and prosperity through study, research, and teaching aligns well with Loyola’s commitment to provide an education that bridges local with global and offers skills that can be applied across multiple avenues of life.”

Loyola will be recognized during a Fulbright Top Producing Institutions and Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders reception on Tuesday, Feb. 18, from 7-9 p.m. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program facilitates cultural exchange provided in more than 160 countries around the world through opportunities to engage in research in a foreign country or teach English for students of various age groups. Through engagement in the community, grantees interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Senate and various organizations in the host countries. More than 2,200 U.S. Students and over 900 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators are awarded Fulbright grants annually.

The Fulbright Scholarship recipients for fall 2020 will be announced later this spring.