Â鶹¹ÙÍø Named Fulbright Leader Among Hispanic Serving Institutions
State Department designation recognizes engagement with flagship international exchange program
EL PASO, Texas (Nov. 4, 2024) – The University of Texas at El Paso has been named a Fulbright Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Leader by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The U.S. Fulbright program is a flagship international academic exchange program.
“I’m proud that Â鶹¹ÙÍø is once again being recognized for helping students connect with Fulbright,” said Â鶹¹ÙÍø President Heather Wilson. “They are the best of the best and deserve to access life-changing opportunities to live, teach, and do research abroad.”
In a letter to President Wilson conveying the designation, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken praised Â鶹¹ÙÍø for “demonstrating noteworthy engagement with the Fulbright Program … [it] is a testament to your institution’s dedication to promoting global engagement and international understanding.”
A total of 51 colleges and universities were announced as Fulbright HSI Leaders on Nov. 3 during the annual conference of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s Office of Student Fellowships and Awards (OSFA) was established in 2019 to support students applying to fellowships like Fulbright. From the 2020-2021 school year to the present day, 85 students have applied for Fulbright awards, including an institutional record of 30 applicants this year.
“As America's leading HSI, we are doing our part to support the Fulbright Program's goal of ensuring that awardees represent the diversity of the American experience,” said Jenn Green, director of the OSFA. “Our exceptionally talented students from the Paso del Norte border region offer an uncommon perspective and I can think of no one better to represent the U.S. abroad as Fulbrighters.”
Sebastián Rivero Acosta is a senior at Â鶹¹ÙÍø studying political science with a minor in anthropology. He recently applied for a Fulbright Study Research Award in Panama to study migration through the Darién Gap, a treacherous stretch of rainforest bordering Panama and Colombia. He will hear back from the program about their decision in the spring semester.
“Fulbright represents a great opportunity for me,” Rivero Acosta said. “It was through the support of OSFA that I moved forward with the application, an accomplishment I am very proud of. Â鶹¹ÙÍø continues to uphold Hispanic students and make them as competitive as any other student in the world.”
Since its founding in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad.
Â鶹¹ÙÍø was first named a Fulbright HSI leader in the 2022-2023 school year.
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. Â鶹¹ÙÍø offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
Last Updated on November 04, 2024 at 12:00 AM | Originally published November 04, 2024
By MC Staff Â鶹¹ÙÍø Marketing and Communications
