Fulbright programs can be a powerful catalyst for self-knowledge, advanced study, research, and career opportunities—and an impressive number of Lehman alumni have benefited from them in recent years. This spring, two more alumni were finalists and in August, one will be heading to the Mexican state of Puebla for nine months.
Arlene Batista '23 majored in psychology and developed a passion for clinical research while pursuing her degree. The summer before she graduated, she learned about the Fulbright teaching assistant program through the Office of Prestigious Awards (OPA), part of Lehman’s Office of Campus Honors and Scholar Engagement (CHASE).
“At the time I was considering applying to graduate school. I knew I would need help for that, and Fulbright was one of the things that came up because I was looking for experiences and I love traveling,” she said. “I was amazed at this opportunity, but I wasn't going to apply because I was so short on the deadline—it was due in October. But OPA encouraged me, and we worked through every step of it.”
Last summer, she’d fallen in love with Mexico City on a three-day visit. “It’s beautiful. The historical architecture, the food, and the people. I just loved visiting,” she said. Hoping to return, she applied for an assignment in Mexico.
Batista got her wish: Just two months after graduating in December of 2023, she learned she’d be going back to Mexico through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, based at Instituto Tecnológico de Tehuacán.
“I will be an English teaching assistant, so I will be working in a classroom alongside a teacher, assisting them and incorporating some American culture into the mix,” she said.
Her Fulbright journey begins with an in-person welcome orientation in Mexico City with other awardees before she heads to Tehuacán.
As for Batista’s long-term goals, her plans when she returns from Mexico “are clearer than ever,” she said. “I will apply to graduate programs in psychology, preferably a Ph.D. program.” She can see herself working in a K-12 school setting, and also doing lab-based research in neuropsychology, because "unlike other fields in psychology there are many things that you can observe, test, and measure through scanning the brain,” she said.
But in the meantime, her Fulbright assignment will be an education in itself.
“When you get an opportunity to learn about a country at a more in-depth level, it's hard to say no to that,” she said.
For Ogo Ononiwu, a Fulbright applicant who graduated in 2022 with a degree in anthropology and political science, the award prompted a shift in her near-term goals to better serve her professional ambitions.
“I'm interested in how communities form, and anthropology is the study of community and culture. And then political science gives you a way of seeing how people form community and then create politics, create an economy. They create all these things in order to survive.”
After two summers working with Lehman anthropology professors abroad, she applied to overseas graduate study programs to pursue an international policy master’s degree in Italy, where she spent her childhood. Ononiwu’s particular interest is the tenuous status of disability rights in immigrant communities—something she, an albino child of Nigerian immigrants in Italy, had experienced personally.
She was a finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student award and was selected as an alternate, pending additional funding. Although she ultimately did not receive an award, the experience helped her further define her interests and deepen her expertise in disability rights and cultural anthropology, she said.
With the support of CHASE directors Alice Michelle Augustine and Moya Bedward, Ononiwu plans to work toward her goal of applying for fellowships and graduate school.
“I'm probably going to reapply to Fulbright, but this time not for Italy,” she said. “I have five programs in mind and I’m going to take the summer to really focus on research and my applications. I want to go for a Ph.D. in sustainability and anthropology, so I'm looking at programs where I can mix all those passions,” she said.
“Even though I didn’t get the Fulbright, I have a better sense of what I want to do now, a base for my future,” she added.
Students who would like to learn more about Fulbright and similar international programs may visit the Office of Prestigious Awards for more information.