Georgetown University

Washington, D.C. – Georgetown University alumnus Priya Bapat (SFS’06), of Voorhees, N.J., was selected by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to receive a Fulbright award to study in Mumbai, India where she will examine the relationship between microcredit lending and women's participation in community development in rural India. She will also attend an intensive course to better learn the Marathi language.

"My goal is to work in development with both governmental and nongovernmental organizations,” Bapat wrote in her application. “A Fulbright grant to India will give me the chance to work in a field I care about in a country that has given me so much of my identity.”

At Georgetown, Bapat volunteered as an emergency response medical technician and was a member of the Georgetown South Asian Society. After graduation, Bapat moved to Costa Rica to work in the Peace Corps as a youth development volunteer for two years.

"Priya will bring to her Fulbright year a combination of strong academic skills, a solid background in international relations, a proven ability to function effectively on a cross-cultural basis and family and linguistic background that are a perfect fit for her proposed study," said Andrew Steigman, associate dean in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. "She will bring honor to the Fulbright program as she did to Georgetown."

Congress established the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for the purposes 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. 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, D.C., Doha, Qatar, and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.