Local Resident and Tufts University Graduate Elizabeth Herman Receives Fulbright Award

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MA (10/26/2010)(readMedia)-- Elizabeth Herman, a resident of Newton, Mass., and a 2010 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, received a Fulbright scholarship to Bangladesh for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Herman received her undergraduate degree in political science. She also has a passion for acting, appearing with Tufts' children's theater troupe during her undergraduate career. While in Bangladesh, she will be examining retellings of the 1971 independence of Bangladesh in the country's official history and social studies textbooks. Her goal is to understand how the idea of Bangladesh's origins, national and ethnic values, and cultural heritage has evolved and been influenced by the political and social changes since independence.

Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected based on academic or professional achievement and demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

More than 1,500 U.S. citizens will travel abroad for the 2010-2011 academic year through the Fulbright Student Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

"Fostering leadership, learning and empathy between cultures was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program," the late Sen. Fulbright said.

###

Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's schools is widely encouraged.