CLU Fulbright recipient to teach in Nepal

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – June 11, 2014) A graduate of California Lutheran University has received a 2014-2015 U.S. Student Fulbright award to teach English in Nepal.

Lisa Rowan of Port Townsend, Washington, is the fourth CLU applicant to receive a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grant in the last five years. The award will cover travel and room and board for her eight-month stay starting July 18.

Participants are chosen for their academic accomplishments and leadership potential. Rowan entered CLU as a Presidential Scholar, earned membership in the Scholastic Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa, The National Leadership Society, and graduated summa cum laude in May with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. She worked with faculty to develop her own course of study focused on education, Spanish and English. She spent three summers teaching English in Thailand and four months teaching English at a nonprofit organization in Peru. She also conducted research into efforts to improve literacy rates in Latin America.

Rowan served as a global justice intern for the Community Service Center, a Safe Zone Ally for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and co-president of the MYLife community-building club at CLU. She was also a member of the Secular Student Alliance and a volunteer staff member at the 2014 Spectrum Experience Diversity Leadership Conference in Big Bear.

Fulbright recipients live and work with people of the host countries, serving as cultural ambassadors for the United States. The program is designed to facilitate cultural exchange, allowing grantees to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints, beliefs and actions.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors the Fulbright Program, which since 1946 has fostered relationships in which citizens and governments of other countries work with the United States to meet shared needs.