ODU Honors College Graduate Zachary Fitzpatrick Awarded Fulbright Grant

July 29, 2013

Zachary Fitzpatrick

Zachary Ramon Fitzpatrick, a 2012 Old Dominion University graduate, has received a Fulbright grant to spend nine months as an English teaching assistant in Germany.

Fitzpatrick's Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship was recently announced by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. He will attend orientation in Germany Sept. 2-5 before serving a full school year at a secondary school there.

The ODU Honors College graduate, whose coursework centered on international studies and German, is one of 17,000 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2013-14 academic year through the Fulbright program, which is intended to foster mutual understanding between citizens of the United States and those living in other countries. Fulbright recipients are among more than 50,000 people participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year.

Fitzpatrick, who is of Filipino American descent, said he wants to share a well-rounded perspective of American multiculturalism with his students. No stranger to German culture, Fitzpatrick lived in the country as a military dependent and studied in Stuttgart during his junior year at ODU.

"I'm really looking forward to living there again, but this time with a job," Fitzpatrick said. "It'll be a different experience than being there as a student."

Fulbright grant recipients are chosen on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential, according to the organization, which was founded in 1946 by the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright, of Arkansas.

Since the inception of the program, which operates in 155 countries worldwide, about 318,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, scientists and other professionals "have had the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns," Fulbright program information states. Included in the tally are 44 Fulbright alumni, from 12 countries, that have been awarded Nobel Prizes and 78 recipients of Pulitzer Prizes.

The ODU Honors College offers undergraduates the benefits of a small liberal arts academic experience within the framework of a large, research-intensive university. The Honors College also assists its undergraduates in the development of successful applications for prestigious scholarships, which have netted graduates $300,000 to date.

For more information, visit the Honors College website.