LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University alumni Chase Coleman ’16 and Jessica Obi ’13 have been awarded grants to serve as Fulbright English Teaching Assistants for 2017-18.
Fulbright grants are highly competitive, and recipients are chosen for their academic and leadership potential.
Coleman, who graduated with a triple major in economics, French and math, is from Georgetown, Ky. He will serve as an English Teaching Assistant and cultural ambassador to Andorra, a principality situated between France and Spain in the Pyrenees Mountains. In addition to his teaching duties, he will engage in the local community through an outdoors club, yoga classes (he is a certified instructor) and a weekly conversation roundtable in English.
After his sophomore year at Transylvania, Coleman worked as a summer intern in Normandy, France, at the Musee des Automates. As a junior, he studied at the Institute for American Universities in Aux-en-Provence, France. This year he taught English to schoolchildren in Deauville, France. The Lexington’s Sister Cities Commission sponsored his summer internship and postgraduate teaching in France.
Obi, from Lexington, graduated with a double major in psychology and English. She will serve as an English Teaching Assistant and cultural ambassador for university students in Vietnam. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she plans to work with community organizations and individuals who have been affected by Agent Orange.
As a junior at Transylvania, Obi studied with the School for International Studies program in Social and Political Transformation in Durban, South Africa.
She then earned an M.A. in ethics, peace, and global affairs from American University in 2015. For the past year she has taught English at the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh.
The Fulbright U. S. Student program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, was established in 1946 by legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright. It increases mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and other countries.