More UVM students and recent alumni have received Fulbright U.S. Student Awards this year than ever before, with 11 set to teach English as a second language in seven countries, and three pursuing graduate study or independent research in New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the United Kingdom. This academic year also saw a record number of applicants for the program from UVM, and a new high level for the number of semi-finalists.
Considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the United States, the Fulbright Program was founded just after the conclusion of World War II, the brainchild of U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. Since 1946, thousands of American college graduates have received support for travel expenses, tuition, books, and living expenses for yearlong teaching assistantships or research projects.
Fulbright awardees foster international connections in more than 125 countries. UVM’s 2026 crop of 14 Fulbright winners tops its previous record from 2020 of nine awardees.
"The Fellowships, Opportunities, and Undergraduate Research Office is proud to celebrate our finalists and all of the students who undertook the Fulbright application process this year,” said David Jenemann, dean of UVM’s Patrick Leahy Honors College. “Their successes are a testament to the extraordinary achievement of UVM students, and to the dedicated faculty and staff who mentor and advise them."
Class of 2025 graduate Anna Grunes has won an open study/research Fulbright to perform research on rain-on-snow flooding events in New Zealand. Lamija Semic ’26 will receive her UVM degree this week and will then head to Bosnia and Herzegovina to research invasive insect pests. Matt Heilbronn, a 2023 UVM graduate, has received a Fulbright graduate study award and will pursue his master’s in veterinary epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College in London in the coming year.
The 11 new UVM Fulbright Student Awardees for teaching assistantships, and the countries where they will be teaching are:
Elliot Baird ’26 - Argentina
Sam Bjorklun ’24 – Thailand
John Blochberger ’25 - Taiwan
Rebecca Bruun ’26 – Colombia
Maximilian Dodson ’23 – Taiwan
Effi Jacobsen ’25 – Kosovo
Meghan Lee ’26 – Taiwan
Maxwell Levine ’26 – Vietnam
Dylan Moody A'ness ’26 – Germany
Savannah Rijkse ’26 - South Korea
Ben Yurek ’26 – Taiwan
(In addition, another member of the Class of 2026, Caroline Kerr, will spend the coming year in a teaching assistantship in Austria funded by the that country’s Fulbright Commission.)