CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Nine University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students and recent graduates were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research and teaching experiences around the globe this coming year.
Seven of the awardees have accepted grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which builds international relationships to help solve global challenges. This flagship international educational exchange program of the U.S. government awards grants to students based on their academic and professional achievement as well as their ambassadorial skills and leadership potential. The Fulbright student program will fund more than 2,000 U.S. citizens to live abroad for the 2026-27 academic year.
“The Fulbright program provides opportunities not just around the globe, but across disciplines,” said David Schug, director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois. “Our Illinois recipients are pursuing careers in law, medicine and education. They are future environmentalists, immigration specialists and professors, all seeking to enrich their profession and better support others with their Fulbright experiences.”
Mariel Galvan, of Chicago, holds a bachelor’s degree in integrative biology from Illinois and will teach English in Spain. As a heritage speaker of Spanish, Galvan also intensively studied the language in practical, immersive settings. Recently, that experience took place during her Peace Corps assignment in Costa Rica, where she facilitated soft-skills workshops and the sharing of American culture with Spanish-speaking residents of the country across 18 months. Her passion for the English teaching component of her Peace Corps assignment spurred her to pursue the Fulbright grant. Galvan, who graduated from Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School in Chicago, plans to attend medical school following her Fulbright award, with the ultimate goal of using the skills she has gained to give back to underserved Black and Hispanic families in her hometown.