Three Trinity students were among 37 Irish and EU citizens honoured with the Fulbright Award on Friday. The award ceremony was held in Dublin Castle and followed by a reception on board the cruise ship “The World”, which was sponsored by a Fulbright alumnus as part of The Gathering.
The Awards, which started in 1957, are bestowed yearly on Irish academics, allowing them to do postgraduate study and research at educational and cultural institutions in the United States, and for Americans to do the same in Ireland. This year’s awardees include students from fourteen Irish third-level institutions.
Among the recipients is TCD’s Síobhra Aiken, great-granddaughter of Frank Aiken, the former Irish Minister for External Affairs and a key figure in the establishment of the Fulbright programme in Ireland. Síobhra has just completed a B.A. in European Studies at Trinity and will spend the year teaching Irish at Elms College in Massachusetts.She is joined in receiving the Fulbright by two other Trinity students, Ferenc Jári and Marguerite Nyhan
“I am definitely chuffed to receive the award,” Síobhra commented. “I am quite exceptional in the whole scheme of things as it is quite rare to get a Fulbright straight after completing a B.A. It was rather daunting being up there with PhD candidates, professors, well acclaimed academics and even the Irish language poet Louis de Paor who also received an award this year.
“I have always been really passionate about [Irish] and kept it up all through college. I was on the Scéim Chónaithe in first and second year and have been very active in the Cumann Gaelach – so Trinity definitely fostered my commitment to the language!
“I’m heading off on the 23rd of August but I have to go to a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the great things about Fulbright is the networking they facilitate. In Phoenix I will get to meet FLTA’s from all over the world who will be teaching their native languages around the States.”
Discussing the diverse nature of the recipients, Colleen Dube, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission, said, “the Fulbright Awards continue to reflect the diversity and depth of Irish academia. Although this year’s awardees have a definite science and technology angle, the arts also feature prominently…I look forward to seeing, and hearing, the wonderful outputs from each of these 37 awardees at the end of 2014.”
Dube continued, “In this Gathering year we are especially delighted with the Fulbrighters’ role as cultural ambassadors while in the U.S. With 37 Irish awardees going to the U.S. and 13 Americans coming to Ireland this autumn, we are thrilled to be a part of the ongoing cultural and educational exchange between the two countries.”
The next round of applications for Irish Fulbright Awardees opens on Wednesday, August 28th, 2013. Interested applicants in all disciplines should visit the Fulbright Commission’s website, www.fulbright.ie, for more information. Applications close for the 2014-15 academic year on Wednesday, November 13th, 2013.
Pictured: Dr Jack Pinkowski, Fulbright Scholar awardee in 2008 at Dublin City Council and host on MS World, with Fulbright Awardees Síobhra Aiken, Réamonn Mac Réamoinn and Marguerite Nyhan and Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisín Quinn [Conor McCabe Photography]
