Western Named a 2017 Top Producer for Prestigious Fulbright Scholarships

Western Washington University was named a top national producer for Fulbright Scholarship winners in the 2017-2018 school year, according to a just-released ranking from the Chronicle of Higher Education and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Western produced four Fulbright winners in this same time period, placing it tied for fifth nationally among masters-granting institutions, and first in the Pacific Northwest; WWU's student recipients will conduct their research in Brazil, Spain, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

Tom Moore, director of Western’s Fellowships Office, said the ranking again shows the excellence of the university’s students.

“Are Western students nationally competitive?  For the 2017-2018 academic year, Western had 25 percent of its candidates win Fulbrights, while Harvard had 20 percent, Yale had 19 percent, and Columbia had 17 percent,” he said.       

The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.  Fulbrights have enabled nearly 300,000 participants to travel abroad to study, teach, conduct research and exchange ideas to foster understanding between Americans and people of other countries.

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 370,000 participants — chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.

For more information, contact Moore at Western’s Fellowships Office at (360) 650-4074 or go to http://www.wwu.edu/fellowships/about.shtml.