Jillian Casey earns Fulbright grant at Elizabethtown College

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (04/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Jillian Casey, Political Science major at Elizabethtown College, received a Fulbright award notification for the 2013-2014 school year. Casey, of Mountain Top, Pa., will travel to the United Kingdom, a perennially competitive country for Fulbrights. She was one of 49 winners from 700 applicants.

The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the flagship international educational exchange program. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between people in the United States and those in other countries. The Fulbright Program, which awards approximately 7,500 new grants annually, has provided almost 300,000 participants-chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential-with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Approximately 294,000 "Fulbrighters"-111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries-have participated in the Program since its inception. Currently, the Fulbright Program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.

Casey, a political science major with minors in international studies and economics plans to graduate from Elizabethtown in May. Like Ward, she attended the University of The Gambia, where she taught at Sheikh Mass Kah Senior Secondary School and volunteered for Alliance For Democracy in Africa. She has presented at the Southern Political Science Association 84th Annual Meeting and at the Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Social Research Conference. Casey was an intern at PennSERVE and for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. At Elizabethtown she has been a research assistant in Political Science, a student assistant in the Chaplain's and Admissions offices, a tutor and a Study Abroad mentor. She attended the Foundation For Economic Education "Applying Liberty" Conference, the University Presidential Inaugural Conference and the National Young Leaders Conference.

Casey is secretary of Omicron Delta Epsilon, an international economics honor society, and is a member of the Elizabethtown College Varsity Cross Country, Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field Team, which she serves as captain. She has been a Student Athlete Mentor (SAM) to Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track Team and is past vice president. Casey was an All-Academic in the Middle Atlantic Conference in cross country, indoor/outdoor track and field.

She also has served as president of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, was a student representative to Honors Council, for which she was past fundraising chair, and volunteers with St. Jude's Parish, the American Cancer Society Relay For Life and Katelyn John Memorial 5K.

Memberships include the Omicron Delta Epsilon, International Economics Honor Society,Pi Sigma Alpha, the Association of College Honor Societies and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Casey has earned the Distinguished Service Award at Elizabethtown College, the Presidential Scholarship, the National Merit Scholarship, two Distinguished Student Awards, a Walter B. Shaw Symbol of Service Scholarship Award, the Tom Bowersox Memorial Scholarship and is a James A. Finnegan Foundation Fellow.

Of her teaching experiences in both the United States and The Gambia Casey noted that her experiences with gender research in the U.S. made her passionate about women's education in sub-Saharan Africa and analyzing how macroeconomic development policies are affecting these opportunities for women. She wants to fight for economic and development policy reform through work with international NGOs or the United States Trade Representative's office. She hopes her life work will lead her to the ultimate goal of advocating for women in sub-Saharan Africa; to help break down barriers so other women can be afforded some of the opportunities she has been given.

Casey's best friend Julia Ward of Coatesville, Pa. also was notified of a Fulbright scholarship and will be traveling to Namibia.