C.J. Libassi of Washington D.C. Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

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C.J. Libassi was awarded a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Spain

SCRANTON, PA (06/14/2012)(readMedia)-- Carmello (C.J.) Libassi of Washington, D.C., who is teaching at Oakcrest Elementary School in Landover, Md, through Teach for America, was among four University of Scranton graduates awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Libassi, a native of Dalton, Pa., and a 2010 graduate of The University of Scranton, won a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Spain. Members of the University's class of 2012 earning Fulbright scholarships are: Ellen (Maggie) Coyne of Stony Point, N.Y., who won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to South Korea, and Kathleen Lavelle of Avoca, Pa., who won a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Spain. In addition, Anna DiColli, a graduate of the University's class of 2010 from Broomall, Pa. was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Public Health to Spain.

The scholarships were announced recently by the United States Department of the State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The four were selected from a pool of more than 9,000 applicants.

"The Fulbright scholarship is the U.S. government's premier scholarship program for overseas graduate study, research, teaching and volunteer work," said Susan Trussler, Ph.D., Fulbright program advisor and associate professor of economics/finance at The University of Scranton. "These students are outstanding not only in their academic and research credentials, but in their longstanding commitment to service, which each intends to continue as Fulbright scholars in their host country."

Since 1972, a total of 138 University of Scranton graduates have received grants in the competitions administered by the Institute of International Education. For seven consecutive years, The Chronicle of Higher Education has listed The University of Scranton among the "top producers" of Fulbright awards for American students.

Libassi graduated magna cum laude from The University of Scranton with a triple major in English, Spanish and philosophy. He is completing a two-year term with Teach for America, serving as a foreign language teacher at Oakcrest Elementary School.

With Teach for America, Libassi was selected to participate as part of a pilot group of just 30 second-year corps members to receive specialized support to further advance their teaching skills. In addition, he was part of a team in the Washington, D.C. area that collaborated to design a plan for maximizing supplemental education services resources to produce greater learning gains for students with the largest educational deficits that won Teach for America's D.C. Region Innovation Challenge pitch competition.

Libassi also founded after-school basketball and soccer programs at Oakcrest Elementary School.

At The University of Scranton, Libassi served as editor-in-chief and production manager of Esprit, the University's literary and art magazine. His original short story "The King of Naptime" won the University's Berrier Prose Award. He was a resident assistant and volunteered as a Spanish translator at the University's Leahy Clinic for the Uninsured, a free clinic on campus.

A dean's list student at Scranton, Libassi is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu (the national Jesuit honor society) and Phi Sigma Tau (the philosophy honor society). Also as a student, he presented at the 2010 Mid-South Undergraduate Philosophy Conference in Memphis, Tenn. He studied abroad at the University of Buenos Aires in the spring of 2009.

As a Fulbright grantee to Spain, Libassi, who applied "at large" while working in Maryland, will teach English to students at a high school in Madrid.

A graduate of Wyoming Seminary High School Kingston, Pa., he is the son of Anthony and Eloise Libassi of Dalton.