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2011-2012 Arhu Fulbright Recipients

April 21, 2011 English | History | Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center | French | Italian | Spanish and Portuguese | School of Music | The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

UPDATED: ARHU students are selected as prestigious 2011-2012 Fulbright award winners.

UPDATED: ARHU students are selected as prestigious 2011-2012 Fulbright award winners.


Maryland’s Fulbright recipients will be studying or teaching English in a wide array of countries, including Morocco, Germany, El Salvador, South Korea Uruguray, and Norway. Two of these recipients hold or are receiving bachelor’s degrees and four are doctoral candidates.The Fulbright U.S. Student Program enables qualified undergraduates, graduate students and recent alumni to design their own study or research plans or to teach English in over 140 countries. It provides unique opportunities for international experience, personal enrichment and an open exchange of ideas with citizens of other nations. Over 8,000 applicants competed for these awards in 2010. For more information on the Fulbright program, visit http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html or contact UMD's National Scholarships Office at fulbright@umd.edu.  PLEASE NOTE: Announcements are made on a rolling deadline as the various host countries make their decisions. We will keep this list as current as possible as additional winners are announced.
ARHU Recipients

Ryan Misler, Morocco
Misier is a Ph.D. candidate in history, focusing on North African history. His research project will analyze the development of the place of the 'Abd al Bukhari, a corps of elite black slave soldiers established by Sultan Moulay Ismail (1672-1727), in Moroccan history by examining Moroccan collective public memory. Despite the group's paramount role in the early years of the 'Alawi state and its continued role as the Black Guard of the Palace, memory of the 'Abid specifically and black slavery in general has been nearly lost.

Aaron Kutnick, Peru (Alternate)
Currently an alternate for Peru, Aaron earned a BA in Sociology in 2010 from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. While at Maryland, Aaron received a citation from the College Park Scholars Arts program. He has proposed to study the use of information and communication technologies among Andean Indigenous communities, such as radio broadcasting and digital audiovisual technologies. His project would include coursework at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and would culminate in a documentary that explores the communication efforts Chirapaq, a Peruvian Indigenous rights organization.

Frank Latino, Germany
Latino is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology, College of Arts and Humanities. In Germany he will prepare a monograph on Walter Gieseking's (1895-1956) song output and a critical performance edition of his unpublished songs. With musicians from the Hochschule fuer Musik Saar and the Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater Hannover, he will lead a lecture-recital (in German) on Gieseking as composer, which will include the German premieres of many works. He will conduct much of his research by examining Gieseking's private archives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

D. Brent Edwards, El Salvador
Edwards is a Ph.D. candidate in International Higher Education Policy. He is also a 2005 graduate of the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Spanish, a certificate in Latin American Studies and a B.S. in Finance/International studies. His research project will look at education management decentralization (EDUCO) in El Salvador. Through innovative case study methods he will investigate (a) how regional, national, and international actors influenced the adoption and implementation of EDUCO, and (b) the operation, strengths and weaknesses of community management of education across four rural communities. Brent’s research aims to update and expand existing research on decentralization in El Salvador.Maseeh Roshan, Spain
This spring Maseeh Roshan will receive a BS in Accounting and Finance from the Smith School of Business, and will earn a minor in Spanish. Following his year in Spain Maseeh plans to enter law school and focus on international law. During an earlier study abroad semester in Valencia, he worked with local enthusiasts to establish the Valencia Lacrosse Club and helped train new players. Maseeh also has previous experience teaching English in Afghanistan.

Zainab Abdul-Rahim, South Korea
Abdul-Rahim received a B.A. from the College of Arts in Humanities in 2010 with majors French Language and Literature, and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. She will be working as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. While at Maryland, Zainab was very active with the campus’ Japanese Koto Ensemble, an experience which inspired her interest in South Korea and its traditional instruments, music and culture. She also gained valuable experience for the Korea ETA position through her involvement in Maryland’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program. Zainab was a member of the CIVICUS program, receiving its citation in spring 2008.

Micheline Tocco, Spain
Micheline Tocco, a senior International Business major and Spanish minor in the Smith School of Business, has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain for 2011-12. Micheline took part in the College Park Scholars in the Arts Program, and has been a member of the University’s UnBound Dance Team for the past four years. She also has extensive experience teaching and mentoring young dancers. A long-time student of Spanish, Micheline aims to teach the language at the elementary or secondary level in the future.

Daniel Richter, Uruguay
Richter is a Ph.D. candidate in history, focusing on Latin American history. His research project will examine examines the development of mass culture and the contributions of ethnic communities to mass culture in Montevideo, Uruguay. His research will also investigate the roles of Uruguayan, Argentine, and international actors in the transnational history of entertainment in the Río de la Plata.


Lydia Tukarski, Germany
Lydia Tukarski received a BA in Communication Studies from the College of Arts and Humanities along with a German minor in 2009. While at Maryland Lydia was active in the German Club and served for two years as a peer advisor in the Education Abroad office.  She also studied abroad in Luneborg, Germany in the fall of 2008. Lydia is currently a communications associate at Potomac Conservancy where she helps children connect to the environment by leading native seed collections in local parks through the organization’s “Growing Native” program.


Hannah Wenger, Norway
This spring Wegner will receive a B.A. from the College of Arts and Humanities with majors in English and Women’s Studies. She is also a member of the Honors College and the Honors Humanities program. She will be She will be working as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She will also explore issues in women’s rights and opportunities, particularly in academia, and she will volunteer with local women’s organizations. Upon returning to the US from her Fulbright year in Norway, Hannah plans to go to graduate school for a Ph.D. in English literature, and then become a professor and teach at the university level.

Stephanie Von Numers, Argentina (Alternate)
Currently an alternate for an ETA grant to Argentina, Stephanie is a senior double-major in Psychology and Spanish. A member of the Honors College and Language House, Stephanie gained valuable teaching experience as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for an upper-level Psychology course as well as through the Maryland English Institute’s English Speaking Partner Program.

Kristen Noto, Andorra
This spring Noto will receive a B.A. from the College of Arts and Humanities with majors in French and Spanish, and a minor in Italian. She will be working as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant.  Noto has been an active member of Maryland's Language House immersion program and a past winner of a Gilman Scholarship for study abroad in Spain.

Elizabeth Hogsten, South Korea
Hogsten is a Master of Music student in Piano Performance. She will be studying the piano music of Isang Yun (1917-1995), a classically-trained composer who was born in Korea and lived most of his life in Germany.  She will be working with Professor Kwihyun Kim at Seoul National University.

Brandi Townsend, Chile
Townsend is a Ph.D. candidate in history, focusing on Latin American history. She will use oral and written sources to research how gender influenced the experiences and memories of political prisoners of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship. She will focus on feminist groups and human rights organizations' mental health terms to uncover how these groups helped survivors recover, shaped how the narrate the past, and contributed to the social construction and gendering of human rights in Chile.