Winter Park, Fl. (September 10, 2009)- During the 2008-09 academic year, a record number of Rollins students completed applications for competitive awards, scholarships, or fellowships. 

A record 20 students completed 23 applications through the Office of External and Competitive Scholarships.  From this pool, five students and one alumnus were awarded four Fulbright Awards, one American Graduate Fellowship, and one Boren Scholarship. Rollins also had three National Science Foundation honorable mentions, and one Hertz Fellowship semifinalist. Each of these prestigious awards, scholarships, and fellowships draw applicants from top college and universities and are highly competitive.

“Securing such high-profile scholarships is another indication of the quality of Rollins’ education,” said Rollins President Lewis M. Duncan.  “These accomplishments are significant for a college of fewer than 1,800 undergraduate students.”

In recent years, Rollins has been identified in The Chronicle of Higher Education as a “Top Producer of Fulbright Awards for U.S. Students,” and this year was no exception. Rollins had seven applicants for the Fulbright program. From the seven applicants, six became finalists. Three were selected to receive Fulbright teaching awards and a fourth was chosen for a Fulbright research award.

The following highlights the 2008-09 successes of Rollins students and alumni:

American Graduate Fellowship

• Robert Hoffman (Class of 2009), a philosophy and English double-major, is one of two students in the United States to receive a $50,000 award designed to promote and support doctoral study in the humanities by talented graduates of small and mid-sized private liberal arts colleges. He is in a doctoral program in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Boren Scholarship

• Fatema Kermalli, (Class of 2011), an international relations major and Jewish studies minor, has been chosen as one of 130 students from across the U.S. to receive a David L. Boren Scholarship for international study. She is studying at the Qasid Institute in Amman.

Fulbright Awards

• Trevor O’Bryan, (Class of 2009), international relations major with minors in economics and German, is teaching English in German schools.
• Kate Osterloh, (Class of 2009), international relations major, Jewish studies minor, is a Fulbright research award recipient. She is living in Egypt and pursuing a dual master’s degree in international human rights law and migration and refugee studies at the American University in Cairo.
• Kelly Rolfes-Haase (Class of 2009), anthropology major and German minor, is spending the year as an English teaching assistant in Germany.
• Chase VanSteenburg, (Class of 2008), graduate in international business with a Spanish minor, is teaching in Spain.

National Science Foundation Honorable Mentions

• Nick Horton (Class of 2009)
• Tyler Kartzinel (Class of 2007)
• Melanie Tumlin (Class of 2007)

Hertz Fellowship Semi-Finalist

• Nick Horton (Class of 2009)