Sociology Graduate Kayla Callanan receives prestigious Fullbright award

Sociology graduate Kayla Callanan (B.A. 2018) recently received a prestigious Fulbright award. The Fulbright Student Program is a U.S. government sponsored program, which provides students the opportunity to teach, research or study in various countries. Fulbright promotes international cultural exchange between U.S. citizens and the host countries, and awards about 8,000 grants per year. Kayla was awarded the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) position, which will send her to South Korea this July to teach English at the secondary level. ETA's are required to develop and implement a community engagement project in the host country, so she proposed to create --or contribute to if one already exists-- a Model United Nations club for the local high school students. Since English is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, this will allow students to refine both their oral and written English skills, while also discussing and debating world issues in a diplomatic manner. By immersing herself in Korean culture, Kayla hope to return to the U.S. with a deeper understanding of intercultural communication, which she plans to utilize as a teacher in her own classroom someday.