Fulbright Awards Granted to Four A&S Students

NORMAN - Three current students and a recent graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma have been named as recipients of Fulbright Grants for Study and Research Abroad. The grant winners are:

• Jordan Lohmeyer, a senior majoring in German and human relations from Tulsa, who will be studying and teaching English in Germany
• Lauren McGough, an Honors senior majoring in zoology and international and area studies with a minor in history from Oklahoma City, who will be studying in Mongolia
• Sarah Steece, an Honors senior majoring in European studies and German from Oklahoma City, who received an award for study and teaching in Germany
• and Stephen Terry, a 2007 master of arts degree in mathematics graduate from Euless, Texas, who received an award for study in New Zealand.

“The University of Oklahoma is proud of the accomplishments of these Fulbright awardees,” said Karl Rambo, Fulbright Program adviser at OU. “To win one of these awards, students are evaluated at the local, national and international levels and compete against the finest students in the country. Their success is a testament to the hard work they have invested in their educations and the quality of the instruction they have received at the University of Oklahoma.”

Lohmeyer plans to study in Germany and serve as an English teaching assistant in a German school. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program places American college graduates in educational institutions to help German students improve their English skills. The German government will place Lohmeyer, and the other teaching assistants, in a particular town or city at a later date.  “I think living in another culture breeds experience and character that nothing else can.  I look forward to learning a lot more, and being equipped to teach German in the future,” Lohmeyer said.

McGough plans to spend next academic year in Mongolia, in the far western province of Bayan-Olgii, studying hunting with eagles by the local Kazakh populations. The information she acquires about eagle falconry continues a long-term interest she has in the subject. “As a falconer and aspiring ornithologist, preservation of the sport and the birds that make falconry possible is very important to me,” she said. “I can’t think of a better place than Mongolia, with all its unique wildlife, and arguably the very birthplace of falconry, to better understand human-animal relationships and effective conservation.”

With her Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany, Steece will have the opportunity to both study and participate in German culture as well as assist English language learners in a German school. After her teaching experience abroad, Steece plans to study international law. “My experience at OU opened my eyes to the larger world around me,” Steece remarked. 

In his project, Terry plans to study how information is gathered and shared and how that process  affects the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.  He noted that, “Most countries have a well-developed monetary policymaking institution or central bank, but no two central banks are alike.  I plan to eventually become a macroeconomist, so the exciting opportunity to study the institutional structure of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand firsthand will significantly expand the perspective that I bring to research later in my career.”

Students were chosen for the Fulbright Grants after a national competition among more than 6,000 applicants. The Fulbright Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, supports students for up to a year of research, coursework or teaching practicum in more than 140 countries around the world. It is designed to give recent graduates, graduate students and young professionals international experience.

The U.S. Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946, immediately after World War II, to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges. Today the Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program. Fulbright Grants are available to students studying most subjects in the sciences, humanities, social sciences and in professional programs.