Seven UM Graduates Earn Fulbright Scholarships

The seven awardees bring the total number of Fulbright recipients at Ole Miss to 73 since 1950. Nearly one-third of all UM Fulbright awardees have been named in just the last five years.

"In a year marked by uncertainty, our students rose to the occasion," said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement. "The achievement of seven Fulbright awardees and four alternates is a testament not only to their resilience and global vision, but also to their patience and persistence through an already long and demanding process.

"At a time when international engagement is under strain, our role in preparing students to represent the best of the University of Mississippi, our state and the nation has never been more urgent, or quite frankly, more meaningful."

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers opportunities for students and young professionals to teach, study or conduct research in more than 130 countries. This year's UM awardees have options to travel to multiple host countries, including Kazakhstan, Germany, South Korea, Luxembourg and Spain.

The awardees are:

• Elsa Allmendinger, a finance and public policy leadership graduate from Memphis, Tennessee
• Madalyn Dudley, a public policy leadership graduate from Somerset, Kentucky
• Binta Fadiga, a 2024 graduate in international studies from Cleveland
• Jacqueline Hibbard, a modern languages master's program graduate from Corinth
• Megan Hughes, an international studies and German graduate from Sumneytown, Pennsylvania
• Audrey Koltz, a biology graduate from Madison
• Morgan McCann, a linguistics and interdisciplinary studies graduate from Huntsville, Alabama.

In their host countries, the students will serve as English teaching assistants and immerse themselves in the country whose language they have studied during their time at Ole Miss.

Hibbard is in South Korea, where she said her goal is to teach English as a second language.

"Fulbright provides me with the perfect stepping-stone to begin my trek down this path, maybe even in South Korea long-term," she said.

"I believe my time at Ole Miss thoroughly prepared me for this opportunity by allowing me to follow a path of study that concentrated on teaching English as a second language, focusing on lesson planning, effective activity building and classroom strategies to keep students engaged."

Koltz, who earned her bachelor's degree in May, has been fascinated by Spanish culture, history and language since she first visited the country in high school. As a Fulbright awardee, she will teach at an elementary school in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

"I couldn't be happier about my placement," she said. "I plan to become a physician, where I'll apply Fulbright teaching skills such as communication techniques, Spanish proficiency and cultural awareness to extend empathy to my patients while effectively educating them on their health."

For Hughes, who will be teaching in Germany, applying for the Fulbright was the next logical step toward her ideal career.

"My long-term goal is to work in international education with a focus on expanding access to global learning opportunities, especially for students who haven't always seen themselves represented in those spaces," she said. "Fulbright is an invaluable step toward that future."

Top: The Fulbright U.S. Student Program honored seven recent Ole Miss graduates with opportunities to teach and study abroad. They are (top row, from left) Audrey Koltz, Binta Fadiga and Elsa Allmendinger, and (bottom row, from left) Madalyn Dudley, Jacqueline Hibbard, Morgan McCann and Megan Hughes. Submitted photos