Albert Palma and Zachery Watkins are the latest to carry on UNM's tradition of providing exceptional students excited to serve as Fulbright scholars. In the last five years, UNM has produced 13 Fulbright scholars in a variety of fields going to a number of different countries.
"I'm proud of the precedent our students are setting," UNM President David Schmidly said. "Year after year, they grasp opportunities and succeed. These students are among our best at UNM and I know that they will represent our university and the state of New Mexico well as they take their scholarship and service out into the world as Fulbright scholars."
The Fulbright Program pays all expenses and provides a stipend, insurance and travel costs for a full academic year, according to Ken Carpenter, associate director, International Programs and Studies.
Pursuing his doctoral degree in political science at UNM, Palma is going to Brazil for dissertation research on Latin American social movements. Growing up in a low-income neighborhood in Albuquerque, he went on to earn an engineering degree at New Mexico State University and a master’s degree in public administration at the Woodrow Wilson Institute of Princeton University. He has worked for a number of human rights organizations in the United States and Latin America.
Watkins, a 2007 UNM graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy, will teach English in Germany. Also an Albuquerque native, he plans a career in teaching when he returns from Germany. As an undergraduate at UNM he received a National Merit Scholarship, and a UNM Regents Scholarship. He also participated in the Honors Program and an international exchange program at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.
The program is extremely competitive, Carpenter said. Last year 6,400 students applied for a grant; about 1,450 were awarded. Yet, UNM offers many resources to students who are interested, including a committee that interviews applicants and reviews applications before sending them to the Fulbright selection committees.
John Smeltzer, who graduated UNM with a bachelor’s degree, also received a Fulbright grant. Tragically, he died while traveling in Spain this summer.