Five more students recommended for Fulbright Scholarships | Press Releases

Five more Fairfield University students have been chosen by the U.S. Selection Committee and recommended to receive J. William Fulbright Scholarships for study and research abroad. The final approval for their selection is expected by June and is dependent on U.S. funding and agreement by the host country.

In the past five years, 12 Fairfield students or recent graduates were selected for the prestigious scholarship.

The newly recommended students and their host countries are: Angela E. Allen, Germany; Kristen M. Cammarata, Morocco; Stacey L. Pascarella, Canada; Edward R. Siuda, Sweden; and Robert E. Varley, Korea.

The U.S. Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946 in the aftermath of World War II in order to build mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas sponsored the legislation. Each year, approximately 4,500 students compete for the 700 Fulbrights, considered the U.S. government's premier scholarship program.

Angela Allen, a resident of Long Lake, Minn., and a senior at Fairfield, plans to serve as an assistant in a German high school teaching English. Upon return to the U.S., she will enter a graduate program for a master's degree and teach English and German at a high school. Her long range plans are to earn a Ph.D. and teach at a university.

This will be her third trip to Germany after a 1993 trip to Geislingen as a high school exchange student and her 1997 junior year study abroad at Freiburg. At Fairfield, she has been active as a Head Start volunteer, campus tour guide, Mirror staff writer, volunteer mentor and in the Honors Program.

She is a triple major in German with a dual concentration in English literature and writing. Her senior thesis will compare the American and German educational systems.

Angela attributed her interest in studying German to growing up in Minnesota, a state deeply rooted in German traditions. During her stay in Germany, she plans to share the experiences she gained while traveling in the United States. She explained that the day after Christmas each year her family would drive to Colorado for a ski trip and her father never drove on the interstate. He said he was giving them "a taste of what spanned between our house and the mountains."

In addition, because of the her mother's influence during 27 years as a second grade teacher, Angela has participated as a volunteer in teaching programs for small children and high school students. "What I have attempted to instill in each of them is the value of education and the important role it plays in each of our lives."

Kristen Cammarata of Walpole, Mass., a 1991 graduate with an M.A. from Brown University, has been selected for environmental studies in Morocco in order to assess the potential for marine-based aquaculture. After her return to the U.S. she plans to continued working on aquaculture and food security issues. She also hopes to pursue a doctorate and work for an international development organization.

At Fairfield, she majored in politics with an English literature minor and she has also been an assistant language teacher for four years in Japan and a research assistant in environmental studies at Brown. In regard to her project, she explained, "As a result of over-harvesting, poor management, pollution and abuses of technology, many of the world's fisheries are approaching maximum sustainable yields. Aquaculture--the cultivation and harvesting of fish and other marine species for food--is a possible solution to satisfy the demand as well as a potential means to conserve the resources of wild fisheries."

Stacey Pascarella, a senior from Milford, Conn., will combine two of her interests - sports and psychology - for her project as an intern in the National Hockey League office while attending the University of Toronto. Stacey pointed out that Canada is losing franchises and players to the United States. The franchises in Winnipeg and Quebec moved to the U.S., Edmonton "is on the endangered list," and the league is considering creating four more teams, all in the U.S. She added, "Fan reaction seems to reflect a lost sense of history."

As a result, for her project "Psychology of Sport: National Hockey League in Canada," she will study such areas as fan development, violence in hockey, and demographics pertaining to the number of Canadian children playing hockey and Canadian NHL players.

At Fairfield, she majored in psychology with a minor in sociology and was also a member of the varsity volleyball team, a marketing assistant in the Athletic Department, assistant trainer in Sports Medicine, an intern for the bowling industry, and a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. Her interest in sports began early as she followed her father, the head football coach and athletic director at Milford Academy, to the gym and practice fields, and absorbed a love for sports. She was also a volunteer for Head Start, helping inner-city children prepare for kindergarten, and for Giant Steps, a private institution for autistic children. Her long-range plans include earning a master's degree in sports marketing. She previously studied abroad at the University's campus in Florence, Italy.

Edward Siuda, formerly of Enfield, N.J., earned a degree in biology at Fairfield in 1996 and is now a research coordinator in cell anatomy at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. For his Fulbright, he will enroll at Lund University in Sweden for research on bacteria that create infections in humans, and upon his return to the U.S., will enroll in a graduate program so that he will eventually earn an M.D. and Ph.D.

At Fairfield, he was active in the Biology Society and Circle K service organization and was a member of the yearbook staff. A dean's list student, he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the pre-medical honor society, received the Biology Department Service Award and was a summer fellow at Hartford Hospital in the Department of Anesthesiology. He previously studied abroad in 1995 at the University of Salzburg in Austria.

For his project, he explained, "The use and misuse of antibiotics have yielded bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. With so few antibiotics remaining, modern society may become susceptible to Third World, or 19th Century, diseases. There is an urgent need for new antibiotics.

"My interest in this topic led me to Dr. Ulf Sjobring of Lund University whose cutting edge work in bacterial pathogenesis has been published in many prestigious journals. With his guidance, we are planning a project that has never been done before and which will aid in understanding bacterial diseases."

Edward plans to focus on the bacteria responsible for a variety of afflictions ranging from sore throats and impetigo to rheumatic and scarlet fevers and even necrotizing fascitis, "the flesh eating disease."

Robert Varley, a senior from Yonkers, N.Y., with a major in English and a minor in film production, plans to teach English in Korea. As a freshman at Fairfield, he began learning Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art, and found himself engaged in the mental and spiritual dimensions. He began studying Asian films and developed interests at the same time in English, American and Australian literature and films, freelance journalism and volunteer service with children, becoming a literacy coach for the Head Start Program in Bridgeport.

He has traveled previously to Australia, spending six months at the University of Melbourne, and will go to Duran, Ecuador with the University's Mission Volunteer Program this summer.

As a member of the marital art club, he won two trophies at a local tournament and through the University's Ham Channel, he produced a short film that won the student film festival's Best Editing and Best Sound Awards.

In Korea, he plans to live with a family, improve his Korean language ability and continue his study of Tang Soo Do and films.

Dr Orin Grossman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, commented that the awards are a tribute to the excellence of the students and "the extraordinary dedication of Associate Dean Beverly Kahn and the faculty advisors who work with the candidates to help them present their applications. Dean Kahn and the faculty advisors spend many hours with each of these students to help them apply for this distinguished honor."