Jessica Pacetti
Staff Writer
North Central College has recently been ranked among the U.S. colleges and universities that produced the highest number of Fulbright Scholars.
Fulbright Scholars is a program that is part of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright was the founder of this program. Fulbright was a member of the U.S. Congress for over 30 years, had a huge impact on America’s foreign policy, and was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Fulbright Scholarship Program has been around since 1946 when it was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent. The program drew its strength from the U.S.’s national commitment to develop post WWII leadership and engage with the community of other nations across the globe.
According to the Fulbright Scholar Program site the “Fulbright Scholarship Program sponsors U.S. and foreign participants for exchanges in all areas of endeavor, including the sciences, business, academe, public service, government, and the arts and the continues to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
Basically the Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s international educational exchange program. More than 1,800 U.S. students, artists, and young professionals in various fields have taken a part of this program, and the program itself is operated in more than 140 countries across the world.
NCC has been ranked among the school with four applicants and three awards. NCC was ranked in the master’s institution under the 2014-2015 section on the Chronicle of Higher Education website. This is the first year that NCC has earned this recognition.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education NCC is also the only College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Institution that is present and listed in the category of mater’s institution.
The opportunities to receive such an honor for the college stem from quality of students recruited, the study abroad program, foreign language program, the mentoring of faculty and staff, and undergrad research opportunities for NCC students.
