Newly named Fulbright Scholar Provides to College’s Spectacular Management Amongst HBCUs
BALTIMORE—Morgan State College, Maryland’s Preeminent Public City Analysis College, elevated its standing amongst HBCU leaders in producing highly-coveted Fulbright Scholarship awardees with the announcement of its 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. A Spring 2023 graduate, Jayla Pope, has the excellence of turning into the College’s newest Fulbright scholarship awarded by the U.S. Division of State’s Bureau of Instructional and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Up to now, Morgan has acquired 67 U.S. Scholar Awards, permitting college students to check, train or conduct analysis internationally in additional than 25 international locations. Pope is one in every of 329 Fulbright scholarships awarded to U.S. faculty college students finding out overseas for the upcoming tutorial yr.
Pope, an alumna of Morgan’s Earl G. Graves Faculty of Enterprise and Administration (SBM), earned a bachelor’s diploma in Human Useful resource Administration with a minor in Spanish and can proceed her superior diploma research overseas taking part within the Fulbright Binational Enterprise Program in Mexico Metropolis, Mexico. A local of South Bend, Ind., Pope will pursue graduate-level Worldwide Enterprise programs at ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) and intern at a Mexican enterprise.
“Jayla Pope exemplifies the tutorial excellence and world engagement we attempt to instill and actively nurture in our college students on the Nationwide Treasure. We wish our college students to prosper having a worldwide perspective anchored in group sensibility and sensitivity,” mentioned David Okay. Wilson, president of Morgan. “Her choice as a Fulbright Scholar is a testomony to her dedication and the distinctive alternatives out there at Morgan. We’re assured she’s going to proceed to make important contributions in her future endeavors.”
Fulbright represents one in every of many tutorial awards and distinctions Pope has collected throughout her matriculation at Morgan. In 2022, she was awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman Worldwide Scholarship, a extremely aggressive scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Division of State. The chance funded an immersive research overseas expertise on the Universidad Del Mar (UMAR) in Oaxaca, Mexico, the place Pope furthered her research in Spanish and sparked her curiosity in Mexico and Mexican tradition.
“I believe culturally (finding out overseas) simply made me far more conscious, studying about cultural range, being in most of these areas,” mentioned Pope. “It has opened up doorways for different alternatives. And so I’m very grateful for the experiences.”
Throughout her undergraduate years, Pope additionally gained invaluable expertise interning with numerous companies and serving as an Immigrant Integration Specialist at Casa de Maryland by way of an AmeriCorps internship, aiding native Latine group members with tax filings. This summer season, she is educating ESOL (English as a Second Language) lessons to non-native English audio system at Anne Arundel Neighborhood School (AACC). After her Fulbright yr, she plans to pursue an MBA with a focus in Human Assets, aspiring to work for a world firm.
Megan DeVirgilis, Ph.D., affiliate professor of Spanish and the newly appointed Fulbright Program Director at Morgan, added: “Jayla’s journey from her Gilman Scholarship expertise to turning into a Fulbrighter highlights the transformative energy of worldwide schooling and devoted language of research. Her dedication to her research and group service is actually inspiring, and I look ahead to seeing the influence she may have within the world enterprise area.”
Pope credit Morgan school and employees who’ve supported her journey towards attaining the Fulbright scholarship. Acknowledging Dr. DeVirgilis and Gonzalo Baptista, Ph.D., affiliate professor of Spanish, for “writing letters of advice to prepping me for the Spanish interviews” and Moriah Ray, director of the Workplace of Research Overseas within the Division of Worldwide Affairs at Morgan, for serving to to manifest the dream with unbridled encouragement.
“I actually need to signify Morgan as a result of it’s such a fantastic college. Morgan has so many sources. And I’m very excited. I can’t wait to come back again and attempt to recruit extra individuals. As a result of Morgan has a lot expertise. We will have (many) extra Fulbrighters. I’m 100% positive of that.”
The Fulbright Program goals to extend mutual understanding between the individuals of america and different international locations. Fulbright recipients are chosen based mostly on tutorial or skilled achievement and demonstrated management potential. The Program operates in over 160 international locations and helps numerous tutorial {and professional} alternatives overseas.
Morgan State College has a distinguished historical past with the Fulbright Program and was named a “Fulbright High Producer” by the U.S. Division of State Bureau of Instructional and Cultural Affairs for the fourth consecutive yr. Along with boasting 67 U.S. Scholar Awards which ranks among the many high of all HBCUs, the College has acquired 30 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards, two Fulbright Specialist Awards, and eight Fulbright-Hays Awards. This summer season, a Fulbright-Hays cohort from Morgan traveled to Bogota, Colombia, to take part in a gaggle venture entitled “Colombia: Youth Social, Political and Civic Engagement, Peace Constructing, and Nationwide Reconciliation.”
In current months, Morgan school have been honored to obtain Fulbright-related awards for his or her analysis and superior research overseas. Yacob Astatke, D. Eng., assistant vp for Worldwide Affairs, acquired a grant to take part within the Fulbright Worldwide Schooling Directors (IEA) Program in France. Krishna Bista Ed.D., professor of Increased Schooling within the Faculty of Schooling and City Research’ (SEUS) Division of Superior Research, Management and Coverage at Morgan, accomplished a two-week go to to the College of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) in Australia as a Fulbright Specialist. In Could, Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani, Ph.D., government director for the Workplace of International Partnerships-Africa inside the Division of Worldwide Affairs, was awarded the Fulbright Specialist Program to the Afro-American College of Central Africa (AAUCA) in Oyala, Equatorial Guinea for a yearlong fellowship.
As well as, Morgan has hosted Visiting Fulbright Students from Nigeria, Sudan, Morocco, and India, and can welcome one other Scholar-in-Residence from Spain within the upcoming tutorial yr. Beneath Dr. DeVirgilis’ management, Morgan has inaugurated an annual “Fulbright Week” every April to help and inform college students and students concerning the software course of.
About Morgan
Morgan State College, based in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified excessive analysis (R2) establishment providing greater than 150 tutorial diploma and certificates applications resulting in levels from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public City Analysis College, and the one college to have its whole campus designated as a Nationwide Treasure by the Nationwide Belief for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial scholar physique and seeks to make sure that the doorways of upper schooling are opened as broad as attainable to as many as attainable. For extra details about Morgan State College, go to www.morgan.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Dell Jackson or Cheryl Stewart, for Morgan State College PR
443-885-3022
