University announces eight Fulbright winners

A school-record eight University of South Carolina students or recent graduates have received 2007 – 08 Fulbright grants to study, teach and conduct research overseas.

The students include Crystal Denise Byrd, Regina Sierra Carter, Kimberly K. Cavanagh, Denise Leigh Dunovant, Matthew Thomas Enright, Stephanie Glotfelty, Sarah Elizabeth Schwartz and Pamela Lauren Szathmary.

The Fulbright Scholarship program, developed in 1946 after World War II and sponsored by the Institute of International Education, is recognized as one of the most prestigious study-abroad programs. In 2007, the institute awarded approximately 6,000 grants worth more than $262 million to U.S. students, teachers, professionals and scholars to study, teach, lecture and conduct research in more than 155 countries.

The program also enables international students to live and learn in the United States. This past academic year, Fulbright scholars from Argentina, Thailand, Ukraine, Barbados, Senegal, Costa Rica, Brazil, Haiti, Russia and Cameroon attended the University of South Carolina.

Byrd, a May graduate of South Carolina Honors College with degrees in mechanical engineering and Russian, will teach English in Russia. She is the daughter of Cassandra Byrd and Chris Adams of Gastonia and a graduate of Highland School of Technology. Carter, a May graduate of South Carolina Honors College and recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award as the university’s most outstanding female undergraduate, will teach English in Indonesia. She is the daughter of Jean Carter of Britton’s Neck and Ronald L. Carter of Murrells Inlet and a graduate of Creek Bridge High School (formerly Britton’s Neck High School).

Cavanagh, a graduate of Canada’s Carleton University who is pursuing her doctoral degree in anthropology, will travel to Jordan to study the development of tourism within the political and economic framework of that country. She is the daughter of Connie L. and Richard Spicer and the wife of Zaid Qattash and attended South Carleton High School in Richmond, Ontario.

Dunovant, a May graduate in geography, will investigate Uganda’s northern post-war social landscape as citizens attempt to re-establish their lives, communities and livelihoods. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, she is the daughter of Teresa and Raymond B. Dunovant III of West Columbia and a graduate of Brookland Cayce High School.

Enright, a May graduate of South Carolina Honors College with degrees in physics, mathematics and French, will continue research that he has performed the past two summers with the Crystal Barrel Collaboration at the University of Bonn, Germany. He is the son of Susan Cartee-Enright and Thomas Enright of Hinsdale, Ill., and a graduate of Hinsdale Townships High School Central.

Glotfelty, a graduate of the College of William and Mary who is pursuing an advanced degree in linguistics, will teach English in Poland. She is the daughter of Barbara and Robert Glotfelty of Springfield, Va., and a graduate of Annandale High School in Annandale, Va.

Schwartz, who received her undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., and her master’s degree in geography from the university, will travel to Swaziland to perform research on prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS in two communities there. She is the daughter of Sandra and Michael Schwartz of Sagamore Beach, Mass., and a graduate of Bourne High School.

Szathmary, a 2004 graduate of South Carolina Honors College, will do research for her Ph.D. in marine biology in New Zealand. She is the daughter of Pamela and Michael Szathmary of Morrisville, N.C., and a graduate of Riverside High School in Greer.

These students and others seeking national fellowships were assisted by the Office of Fellowships & Scholar Programs. For more information about the Fulbright Program, contact the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs at 777-0958, or visit us online at www.sc.edu/ofsp.