Washington, D.C. th Georgetown University graduating senior Katherine Schaefer (SFS '08), of Arcata, Calif., was selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to receive a Fulbright award to Mexico. There, Schaefer will study ecological conservation at Mexico's University of Veracruz Center for Tropical Research with participatory research in a Totonacan indigenous community.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington, D.C. – Georgetown University graduating senior Katherine Schaefer ( SFS ’08 ), of Arcata, Calif., was selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to receive a Fulbright award to Mexico. There, Schaefer will study ecological conservation at Mexico’s University of Veracruz Center for Tropical Research with participatory research in a Totonacan indigenous community.
By recording life histories of these indigenous farmers, Schaefer will compile an archive of traditional ecological knowledge to understand their changing relation with the environment. Building from her research, Schaefer will work to connect farmers with the necessary resources and markets to implement traditional agricultural techniques in a manner that is consistent with both cultural values and conservation-based development.
“My generation has witnessed the explosion of environmental awareness through important global issues like climate change,” said Schaefer, a Science, Technology & International Affairs major in the School of Foreign Service. “I want to bring attention to this movement …and to the role of agriculture as a ground for positive environmental stewardship. My upcoming experience in Mexico will prepare me to be a leader and advocate for community-based conservation.”
At Georgetown, Schaefer was awarded the 2007 Georgetown University Research Opportunities Program ( GUROP ) summer research fellowship, receiving funds to study the environmental history of the Maya world with faculty mentor Timothy Beach. She was also a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Editor-in-Chief of the university’s only undergraduate journal of environmental studies.
“( Katie ) has worked on my projects in the Maya Lowlands, and her work was so valuable that I funded her to join my fieldwork in Belize,” said Timothy Beach, professor of Geography and Geoscience in the School of Foreign Service's program in Science, Technology & International Affairs. “She has written an excellent Fulbright proposal, and is the kind of student with the intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness that give her a high probability for success.”
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board was established by Congress for the purpose of supervising the Fulbright Program and certain programs authorized by the Fulbright-Hays Act and for the purpose of selecting students, scholars, teachers, trainees, and other persons to participate in the educational exchange programs. Appointed by the President of the United States, the 12-member Board meets quarterly in Washington, D.C. The Board maintains a close relationship with both the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ( ECA ) at the U.S. Department of State and the executive directors of all the binational Fulbright Commissions. Since its inception more than 30 years ago, nearly 300,000 Fulbrighters have participated in the program. More information is available here: http://fulbright.state.gov/.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, DC, Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.
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