New College Receives Record Seven Fulbrights
Nationally competitive grants will send six students, alumna
to foreign countries for one year of research, teaching

(April 19, 2007) – Headed for three different continents, six soon-to-graduate students and one alumna of New College of Florida have received 2007-08 Fulbright fellowships for a year of research and teaching in the international exchange program for U.S. students.

The seven 2007-08 Fulbright awards nearly double the four received last year by students of Florida's Honors College, and bring New College's total to 31 Fulbrights earned by students in the past 13 years and to 35 since New College was founded in 1960. In 2005, New College placed third nationally among all liberal arts colleges for Fulbright recipients by per-capita percentage. New College was also the only public liberal arts college on the Chronicle of Higher Education's list of leading Fulbright-recipient institutions in 2005-06.

The seven New College recipients and their Fulbright destinations are:

Trevor Caughlin – Thailand
Caughlin received a Fulbright Research Grant in botany to study the link between seed-dispersing animals and tree-population changes in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary of Thailand. The sanctuary is unique as one of the few remaining pristine forests of Southeast Asia with intact populations of tigers, elephants and other endangered animals. He will be collaborating with researchers at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok. Caughlin is a thesis student at New College from Boise, Idaho. He will graduate in May with a double major in biology and environmental studies. This spring, Caughlin also received a Graduate Research Fellowship grant from the National Science Foundation. His adviser is Dr. Heidi E. Harley, an associate professor of psychology at New College.

Karlye Dilts – Peru
Dilts received a Fulbright Research Grant in economic development to study barriers to formal market entry in Peru that persist despite reforms and to conduct research into labor regulations, building codes and bureaucratic processes that affect the size of the informal economy. Dilts, who sailed to China, Vietnam, India, Kenya, South Africa, Brazil and Venezuela in the Semester at Sea program in spring 2005, also will be taking courses in economics and political science at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima. Dilts is a thesis student who will graduate in May with a double major in economics and political science. She is from Spring Hill, Fla. Her adviser is Dr. Frank Alcock, assistant professor of political science.

Michael Powers – Germany
Powers received a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to teach English as a foreign language in Germany. For his Fulbright grant, he hopes to be assigned to eastern Germany. A German studies major from Miami who is also fluent in Spanish, Powers plans to continue his studies of German and German literature, film and culture, and to earn a Ph.D. to become a professor of German. He spent two semesters and a summer month in Germany studying German literature, linguistics and culture. He has taught German to his peers as a teaching assistant at New College and, as a volunteer tutor, has taught English to Hispanic children. Powers' senior thesis is an analysis of German film director Werner Herzog's portrayal of the "naturkind" historical figure, Kaspar Hauser, a teenage boy who mysteriously appeared in Nuremberg in 1828 having had no discernible previous contact with society. Powers' adviser is Dr. Glenn Cuomo, professor of German language and literature at New College.

Meghan Rimelspach – South Korea
Rimelspach received a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to teach English as a foreign language in Korean secondary school. Rimelspach graduated in 2005 from New College with a bachelor of arts degree in humanities. In 2005-06, she was a Peace Corps volunteer working on community-development projects and teaching English in Bangladesh; however, her service was cut short when, for security reasons, she had to be evacuated from the South Asian country. She is currently an Americorps VISTA volunteer working at New College, organizing service-learning opportunities in the local community. When she returns from teaching in South Korea, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in international development and public health. Rimelspach is originally from Ohio. Her thesis adviser at New College was Dr. Susan Marks, assistant professor of Judaic Studies/Klingenstein Chair.

Alia Schultz – Germany
Schultz received a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to teach English as a foreign language in Germany. She is a major in German studies and religion, and in addition to teaching, will pursue her interest in contemporary Jewish culture in Germany and research people who chose to repatriate to then-East Germany after World War II. Schultz, who is from Highlands, N.C., attended an Austrian high school for a year as a Rotary foreign-exchange student. Her New College activities have included co-founding the New College Charity Knitting Club and performing in concert on the flute. Her New College adviser is Dr. Susan Marks, assistant professor of Judaic Studies/Klingenstein Chair.

Eleanor Vekert – South Korea
Vekert received a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to teach English as a foreign language in South Korea. Vekert is a thesis student at New College who will graduate in May with a major in anthropology. A student of Tae Kwon Do since age 10, she hopes to study the martial arts further while in South Korea. An accomplished musician who plays the flute, bassoon, piccolo and marimba, she has studied with the Florida West Coast Symphony. She also is a co-founder of the New College Fitness Club and competed in the Sarasota Half-Marathon. Vekert, who is from Maryland, plans to do graduate work toward a teaching career after her Fulbright service. Her adviser at New College is Dr. Uzi Baram, associate professor of anthropology.

Bryson Voirin – Germany
Voirin received a Fulbright Research Grant in biology to research ferret-like steinmartens and baummarders, animals that normally nest in trees but, drawn to car engines, gnaw on electrical wires and other components. Voirin, who has captured sloths in Panama, will use radio-tracking techniques to study the habitat use and adaptation of the mammals. He also will do field work at the University of Ulm, Germany. Voirin was named to USA Today's 2006 Academic All-Star Team, the annual list of America's 60 best undergraduates, and won a 2005 Udall Foundation Scholarship. Voirin, from Winter Springs, Fla., is a thesis student who is to graduate in May with a double major in biology and environmental studies. Voirin's adviser is Dr. Al Beulig, professor of biology at New College.

The Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. The program was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to "enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program currently awards approximately 1,300 grants annually in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Since the establishment of the program, more than 45,000 U.S. students and 148,000 students from other countries have benefited from the one-year Fulbright experience.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships to U.S. recent bachelor’s graduates, master’s and doctoral students, young professionals and artists for study and research abroad. In 2006-07, more than 1,200 American "Fulbrighters" are studying abroad with either full or partial support from the Fulbright Program.

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