UC Fulbright Winners Earn Prestigious Professional Opportunities in Europe

Three University of Cincinnati students and spring graduates – and one faculty member – are heading abroad in the coming academic year to pursue prestigious opportunities for professional development via teaching and work.

The following UC students or spring graduates have been awarded Fulbright grants for the 2012-13 academic year:

• Beth Ciaravolo, 25, of the Cincinnati neighborhood of Riverside, graduated this past spring with a master’s in geography after having already earned UC bachelor’s degrees in linguistics and international affairs, with a minor in geography and certificate in Arabic language and culture. She will next travel to Ukraine on a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. This Fulbright opportunity represents a return to Ukraine for Ciaravolo, who taught at the Ukrainian Catholic University Summer School in 2010. However, Ciaravolo also plans to continue ongoing research efforts that integrate language, culture, geography and identity. For instance, she most recently studied 65 years’ worth of American political cartoons for her master’s thesis, “The Bear, the Bomb and Uncle Sam: The Evolving American Perception of ‘Russians’ Viewed through Political Cartoons.” Ciaravolo is interested in the broad extent to which language molds society and will examine such issues in Ukraine where, during the Soviet era, speakers of the Ukrainian language (vs. those who spoke Russian) faced persecution. The Ukrainian language nearly vanished; however, since that time, there has been a national effort to revitalize the Ukrainian language and culture. Said Ciaravolo, “What interests me most is this question of this new state trying to find its identity and the role language plays in that.”
  

• Cara Tovey, 23, of Chester, Conn., who graduated this spring from the Department of German Studies 4+1 master’s program, has earned a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Klagenfurt, Austria, a city near the southern border of that country. Tovey actually came to UC to study ballet at the College-Conservatory of Music but later switched her major to German Studies. And now, she combines both dance and German Studies into her research interests on the intellectual value of dance. She explained, “People talk about literature, and other forms of art are more featured in academia. I think dance is just as worthy of that. The things people are doing with dance today are new and exciting and political… .”  Tovey added, “Germany and Austria are great places for dance. They’re really supportive of the arts. There’s so much there, and not a lot of it has been looked at from the academic perspective.”

• Jennifer Williams, 28, of McLean, Va., who just earned an artist diploma from UC's College-Conservatory of Music, will pursue apprenticeships in opera stage direction at Berlin’s Komische Oper and Deutsche Oper, as well as Oper Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany) from September 2012 thru May 2013. She chose Germany as a Fulbright destination because “opera direction in Germany allows artists to pursue the most-innovative works that attract the most diverse audiences in the world, including all social classes, children and adults.” Williams, who began writing musicals at age 12 and directed her first musical theater production with friends at that age, said she’s always wanted to work at the intersection of music and theater. The Fulbright opportunity, which will allow her to work with Peter Konwitschny at Oper Leipzig, David Alden at the Deutsche Oper and Barry Kosky at the Komische Opera in Berlin is “fulfilling a dream I’ve had since about 18, even before I ever started college.”
  

In addition, the Fulbright program has provided support to at least one UC faculty member who will conduct research and teach abroad during the coming academic year:

• Mary Brydon-Miller of Louisville, Ky., is a professor in the educational studies program in the UC School of Education. Brydon-Miller was awarded a Fulbright at Keele University in England beginning in January 2013. Working with Keele University’s Centre for Professional Ethics, also known as PEAK (Professional Ethics at Keele), and with colleagues conducting research with local partners, Brydon-Miller will be advancing her work in the area of research ethics in educational and community-based settings through action research. She will return to UC in June 2013. Brydon-Miller has served on the faculty in the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) for 12 years.

The above-mentioned Fulbright honors are among numerous other awards earned by members of the UC community this year. Students have also worked with UC’s

Office of Nationally Competitive Awards

to earn the following:

• UC McMicken College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate Christopher Denbow has also received a William J. Clinton Scholarship to American University in Dubai for fall semester.

• UC McMicken College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate Will McIlwain, an international affairs major, is currently on a William J. Clinton Scholarship to American University in Dubai for the summer.

• UC McMicken College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate Elizabeth Mulholand, an Asian Studies major, is the recipient of a Freeman-ASIA award designed to support American undergraduates during study in East or Southeast Asia. She will study in Japan this fall.

• UC Carl H. Linder College of Business undergraduate Kyle Quinn received the 2012 Boren Scholar award for $20,000 to study abroad at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo, Brazil, for the 2012-13 school year.
  

• UC McMicken College of Arts & Sciences undergraduate Ryan Shea, an Asian Studies and communication major, is the recipient of a Freeman-ASIA award designed to support American undergraduates during study in East and Southeast Asia. He will study in Japan this fall.