Guzman earns prestigious Fulbright Scholarship
5/25/2007 12:15:00 PM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing
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She continued, “I began the process for the scholarship in October, which consisted of an application as well as interviews with three Lehigh faculty members, and I did not find out that I was the recipient until March. By going to Depok, my hope is to help promote mutual understanding between
Guzman earned a 3.78 grade point average in the classroom as a political science major and was a multi-year member of the Dean’s List and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. She served as captain of the crew program this past year and credits head coach Paul Savell and her teammates for making her experience at Lehigh a positive and rewarding one. “The strong support network throughout the athletics department from Coach Savell on down helped prepare me for this opportunity and was extremely helpful throughout the entire process,” Guzman explained. “Being a student-athlete at a place where you learn to work as a team and you learn about the balance and discipline that you need to be successful is invaluable. Lehigh offered me great life lessons and was very committed to my academic and athletic success.”
Ian Duffy, a history professor at Lehigh, serves as the Fulbright advisor at Lehigh and he was not only impressed with Guzman’s work throughout the process, but he was not surprised when he learned that she was awarded the scholarship. “Rebecca is a very good student and despite the severity of the competition that she was up against, I was not surprised that she won. She’ll be a terrific ambassador and representative of our country while over there.” He continued, “She already had an international background having been to
The Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. The program awarded approximately six thousand grants in 2006, at a cost of more than $235 million, to
Senator J. William Fulbright introduced a bill in the United States Congress in 1945 that called for the use of proceeds from the sale of surplus war property to fund the "promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science." On August 1, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the bill into law, and Congress created the Fulbright Program.
The
“As Lehigh continues to gain more international acclaim, my hope is that it can become more global and provide its students with increased international experience,” said Guzman.
