Fulbrights Announced

Four current and former students awarded grant

Nicolas SonnenburgTHE SANTA CLARAMay 7, 2015

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Santa Clara takes an academic victory lap following the announcement of alumnus Aven Satre-Meloy ‘13 winning a Rhodes Scholarship, the university can also add to its collection of laurels four new Fulbright Scholars.

This year, two current seniors and two Santa Clara alumni received the prestigious grant. Winners will travel across the globe and study or teach a variety of topics.

Ty Van Herweg, a senior theater and economics major, is among this handful of talented Santa Clara winners. This fall, he will be using his Fulbright Scholarship to travel to Uganda.

Van Herweg will work with local farmers and motorcycle taxi drivers — colloquially known in Uganda as “boda-boda men” — to study the implications of social entrepreneurship.

Using an application developed by Santa Clara students Michael Brew and Bryant Larsen, Van Herweg hopes to connect farmers with drivers to ease the burden of transportation.

A Seattle native, Van Herweg came to Santa Clara considering a career in law. However, after visiting Uganda in the summer of 2014 under a Global Social Benefit Fellowship, his path changed.

Working with Banapads, a Ugandan organization that works to keep women in school by making sanitary pads more accessible, he became interested in the world of social entrepreneurship.

Wishing to return to Uganda, he saw the Fulbright Scholarship as an opportunity to return to the third-world nation.

After his 10-month stay, Van Herweg hopes to leave his research with native Ugandans. He stressed the importance of empowering those he helps, not simply providing aid.

“There’s a lot of incentive to drive this technology around the world,” Van Herweg said. “Small companies want to get their products into rural areas. This can help.”

Senior Keyra Galvan also received a Fulbright this year. An economics and international business major, she applied for the Fulbright Binational Business Internship Program. Started only three years ago, the fledgling program places scholars in Finland, Australia or Mexico. Galvan will be working in Mexico City for 10 months, starting in fall 2015.

Unlike the other Fulbright programs, the Binational Business Internship Program placement process extends into the summer. Galvan will interview with a variety of companies in the upcoming weeks and find out her final placement in July.

Among the possibilities are Ashoka and Endeavor Mexico, companies engaged in microfinance, as well as Scotiabank. There she would be involved in finance analytics.

Two alumni will also travel abroad as Fulbright Scholars. Jenny Kromm ’13 will study censorship during World War I and its impact on the arts in Vienna. Jeff Moran ’04 will teach English in Colombia.