Studying on Fulbright Scholarships is gaining popularity at UMW. Of the eight Mary Washington students who have received the grants, six have earned them in the past four years. This is due in part to the efforts of UMW Fulbright Campus Adviser Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and American studies, and the Fulbright Campus Evaluation Committee, which includes Al-Tikriti; Rosemary Jesionowski, assistant professor of art and art history; and Jessica Locke, assistant professor of modern foreign languages.
The Fulbright Program, started in 1946, is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Michele Alexander ‘11
When Michele Alexander ’11 was a teenager, a child from near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant lived with her family for the summer. The next year another came, and the next another.
The world’s worst nuclear power accident happened at Chernobyl in 1986 spewing radioactive contaminants over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and beyond. The family guests, who traveled thanks to the program Children of Chernobyl, made Alexander want to help the many youngsters who bore scars of the disaster. This September, with the help of a Fulbright Scholarship, she visited Eastern Europe to do just that.
A political science major with a concentration in Middle Eastern studies, Alexander will spend a year in Ukraine researching the medical needs of affected children. She’ll also study Ukrainian government policies and those of other organizations that provide assistance.
Alexander will collaborate with professors to conduct research on children who suffer from symptoms caused by contaminated soil and water. Among the effects on youngsters are an unusually high rate of thyroid cancer, malnutrition, compromised immunity, and other maladies.
A recent photo of Chernobyl Reactor 4, which exploded in April 1986, spewing radioactive contamination across the then-Soviet Union and Europe.
“I hope to determine what the affected children need and how to address it so they can lead healthy, normal lives,” said Alexander, who also has a minor in economics.
After completing university courses in Ukraine, she plans to study international health policy in graduate school and embark on a related career.
Read Alexander’s blog from Ukraine at malexand89.umwblogs.org.