UNL students win Fulbright and Boren scholarships

Five University of Nebraska-Lincoln students have received prestigious Fulbright scholarships, and two have received Boren scholarships for the 2007-08 academic year.

The Fulbright winners are Peter Gengler of Sioux Falls, S.D., Sean Golden and Noushan Noureddini of Lincoln, Nancy Liu of Grand Prairie, Texas, and Elizabeth Musil of Shubert. The Boren winners are Deanne Lickteig of Wichita, Kan., and Kevin Healy of Yankton, S.D.

"This is an exceptional group of students," said Laura Damuth, fellowship adviser in the Office of Undergraduate Studies. "Engaged in global issues, these students, with majors in international studies, political science and history, have a desire to go beyond Nebraska's borders to gain a developed sense of cross-cultural understanding."

Fulbright is the largest U.S. international exchange program, and offers opportunities for students to undertake international graduate study and advanced research worldwide. The scholarships were established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

The National Security Education Program's David L. Boren Undergraduate Scholarships offer U.S. undergraduates funding to study abroad. The program awards scholarships to American students for study of world regions critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East.

"The fact that our students are winning these kinds of prestigious awards says much about UNL's ability to attract and retain high ability students, as well as the excellent undergraduate preparation that they receive while they are here," Damuth said.

Fulbright Scholarship Recipients:

Gengler, a May graduate of the University Honors Program, majored in international studies, history and European studies. He will go to Berlin to research the history of the conceptualization and development of the Holocaust memorial in Ravensbrueck, Germany. Ravensbrueck was a women's camp where more than 20,000 women and children perished under Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1945.

Golden is a May graduate of the J.D. Edwards Honors Program who majored in business administration and economics with minors in finance, psychology and computer science. He will travel to Chisinau, Moldova, to study cultural influences on risk preferences. His study includes six months of Russian language training and 10 months of research. Golden said he hopes to pursue valuations in transition and developing economies using the model developed in Moldova.

Liu is in the graduate clinical psychology program at UNL. She will go to Beijing with the Suicide Research and Prevention Center this fall to study risk factors involved in suicide rates in rural China. Liu said she hopes to continue pursuing her interests in mental health research and policy in the near future.

Musil, a May graduate of the University Honors Program, majored in German and international studies, with a minor in theatre arts. She won a Fulbright teaching assistantship, and will be helping teach English at the Ludwig-Leichhardt-Gymnasium in Cottbus, Germany. She plans on pursuing a master's degree in teaching English as a second language at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Noureddini is a member of the University Honors Program who majors in political science, history and international studies, with minors in art history and criticism and Spanish. She will spend a year in Cluj, Romania, where much of Romania's ethnic Hungarian and Roma populations reside, to analyze the strategies used by international and local nongovernmental organizations to promote inter-ethnic cooperation. Her study will examine the links between international and local organizations, and the techniques used by such groups to improve the status of Hungarian and Roma groups, the latter often referred to as Gypsies.

NSEP Boren Scholarship Recipients:

Lickteig is a member of the University Honors Program who majors in French, international studies and Russian, with minors in mathematics and economics. She will travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to study Portuguese and to enhance her understanding of the country. She said she hopes to work in the U.S. Foreign Service, with a particular interest in improving relations between the United States and Brazil. Prior to going to Brazil, Lickteig will intern with the U.S. Department of State at the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in Quebec, Canada.

Healy is a member of the University Honors Program majoring in political science, history and Russian. He will study Russian language and culture in Yaroslavl, Russia. He said his future plans include law school, specializing in international law.

CONTACT: Laura Damuth, Office of Undergraduate Studies, (402) 472-5024