Earlier this month, three recent OU graduates and a current OU student were named recipients of Fulbright Grants for Study and Research Abroad.

OU graduates Jordan Lohmeyer, Stephen Terry and Sarah Steece, and Lauren McGough, zoology and international and area studies senior, received the grants to work or teach abroad after applying for the OU Fulbright program in September, said Karl Rambo, program adviser and assistant professor in the anthropology department.

In 1946, Congress created the Fulbright Grant program 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,” according to the program’s Web site.

College seniors and recent college graduates around the nation propose project ideas they could work on in foreign countries to apply for the grants. Rambo said the program has expanded to over 100 countries, and in fall 2007, there were 6,700 applicants nationwide. Of those applicants, about 1,500 received grants to work or teach in another country, he said.

In fall 2008, seven OU students applied and four were named as recipients, Rambo said. Another OU applicant was put in an alternate group in case those who received the grants decline to accept them.

Rambo said it’s impressive that four OU students were chosen this year.

“We did really well compared to typically what happens,” he said.

He said once students apply, they do a local interview in their region before their applications are sent to a national center for evaluation. At that point, about two thirds of the applications are weeded out. The remaining applications are then sent abroad, where they are evaluated again.

Six of the OU applicants made it past the national review level, Rambo said. Because of the competitive nature of the application process, the program attracts quality students, he said.

“Only really the best students typically end up applying,” he said.

The locations the OU grant recipients proposed include Germany, Mongolia and New Zealand.

Lohmeyer and Steece both proposed ideas to teach in Germany, Terry proposed a project to compare the communication and monetary policies of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Federal Reserve in the U.S., and McGough proposed a project to document traditional hunting methods in western Mongolia.

Terry, who received a master’s degree in mathematics from OU in 2007, said in an e-mail he was happy he received the grant, but he plans to decline the grant in favor of enrolling in the economics Ph.D. program at Stanford University in the fall.

And Steece, who graduated in December with a German and European studies degree, said she was also considering declining the Fulbright Grant to take a assistant teaching position from a different U.S. Fulbright program.

Even thought she might not accept the grant, Steece said she was very happy when she heard she had received it.

“I was extremely excited when I heard that I had been selected,” she said in an e-mail. “The process of applying is very long and can be quite tedious, so to know that all of the work and months of waiting has paid off is very rewarding.”

Steece said she decided to apply after she studied abroad in Austria as an undergraduate student at OU.

“I think the Fulbright program allows students a once in a lifetime opportunity. Much like the study abroad programs at OU, the chance to spend an extended amount of time in a different country is an invaluable experience for anyone seeking to develop their own education,” she said.

Rambo agreed the opportunity is excellent for students because the grant usually pays for 10 months abroad, which includes insurance, travel and a living allowance.

He also said he likes the program because it focuses on giving students international experience.

“I was happy with the results this year, just for the students, and at a larger level for the program,” he said.