Tufts University Graduate Laura Kaplan Receives Fulbright Award

MEDFORD, MA (10/14/2010)(readMedia)-- Laura Kaplan, a resident of Scarsdale, N.Y., and a 2010 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, received a Fulbright scholarship to Colombia for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Kaplan graduated magna cum laude with a double major in International Relations and Peace and Justice Studies, with a regional focus on Latin America and Israel. She spent her junior year in Chile working for a community organization that provides resources to impoverished families in poor sections of Santiago. Kaplan will be an English teaching assistant at Universidad de la Salle in Bogotá, Colombia, and will conduct research with ConPaz, a post-conflict management think tank.

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 about the program.

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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.