Gustavus senior Allison Ryan is the fifth Gustavus student to receive a Fulbright Scholarship since 1996.
Gustavus Adolphus College senior Allison (Addie) Ryan has been granted a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2008-09 academic year. Ryan, a native of St. Paul, Minn., will take classes and research the effects of microfinance projects directed at women in Morocco. Ryan is the 12th Gustavus student since 1991 to be named a Fulbright scholar.
“I’m pretty much stunned,” Ryan said. “I figured this was a long shot so I feel really blessed to have this once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Microfinancing is the idea of providing banking and other financial services to the poor as a tool to reduce poverty. The movement has experienced increased popularity thanks in part to Muhammad Yunus — a 2006 Nobel Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Ryan says that Yunus’ model inspired her and gave her the idea for her research.
Ryan graduated from Gustavus this winter with a 3.9 grade point average. She majored in French and international management and also minored in peace studies. She became interested in Morocco through her Gustavus Economic Development and World Resources course taught by Henry Hays. Her interest peaked when she took a trip to Morocco while studying abroad in France during the Spring Semester of her junior year. During her upcoming stay in Morocco, Ryan will learn Arabic and take courses at Dhar el Mehraz University in Fez.
Ryan credits both Hays and her French adviser Laurent Dechery for helping her with the Fulbright application process. Dechery is also the Fulbright adviser at Gustavus.
“Laurent helped me get an early start on the application process last summer and Henry helped me a lot with the topic of my research,” Ryan said. “Without help from both of them this wouldn’t have been possible.”
Established in 1946, the Fulbright program aims to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of people, knowledge, and skills. The program sends approximately 1,100 American scholars and professionals per year to more than 130 countries, where they lecture and conduct research in a variety of academic and professional fields.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
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