Tufts University Graduate Lisa Tse of Santa Barbara Receives Fulbright Award

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS. (04/07/2011)(readMedia)-- Lisa Tse, a resident of Santa Barbara, Calif., and a 2010 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, received a Fulbright scholarship to Malawi for 2011.

Tse graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 2006, and double-majored in Community Health and International Relations at Tufts with a focus on global health.

According to Tse, the highlights of her Tufts experience were "the peers and professors who inspired me to strive for more by setting the bar high with their own accomplishments, challenged me to become a more pro-active global citizen, and provided me with the information, resources and encouragement needed to do both." As an undergraduate, she also traveled to Guatemala as part of a team that delivered medical care to people in rural areas.

Tse was inspired to travel to Malawi after working with the country's College of Medicine through a Tufts-sponsored internship at Global Medical Knowledge, a Boston-based NGO. While abroad, she will study the country's existing health promotion programs and work to establish her own community health organization. She is excited about "learning outside the academic setting [...] not only about existent conditions, but about realistic efforts that could ameliorate them."

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.

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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.