Two graduating seniors at the University of Mary Washington, Farrah Tek and Emily Potosky, have been selected to receive prestigious U.S. Fulbright grants for 2010-11. The two awards bring to seven the number of Fulbright grants awarded at UMW, five in the past three years alone. Both students will travel to Asia to pursue two distinctly different experiences.
In July, Tek will head to Cambodia where she will study the effects of victim participation on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC). Potosky, who received an English Teaching Assistantship Fulbright Grant, will spend a year in South Korea teaching elementary or secondary school students English as a Second Language.
“We are extremely proud of our two grantees, Farrah Tek and Emily Potosky, as we are of all our Fulbright applicants this year,” said Nabil Al-Tikriti, assistant professor of history. “This is an outstanding honor and a real accomplishment that puts our fine students and institution in the best light possible.”
The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since 1946, it has offered students, scholars and professionals the opportunity to study at the graduate level, conduct research or teach in other countries through its grant programs.
Farrah Tek
Farrah Tek of Bristow, Va., has a personal stake in her study abroad.
“I applied to do a research grant in Cambodia because my parents are victims of the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities and I wanted to be a part of indicting the leaders,” Tek said.
She will focus on the ECCC, also known as the Cambodian Tribunal, to research the cultural, legal and anthropological impact of victims as civil parties on an international criminal court. The court was created by the Cambodian government and United Nations to prosecute leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, a Cambodian communist party in power during the 1970s. During the period, more than one million people died or were affected by genocide, including members of Tek’s extended family.
She also looks forward to seeing the homeland of her parents for the first time.
At UMW, Tek doubled majored in English and human rights and spent four years on the research-intensive policy debate team.
Gregory Stanton, former James Farmer Professor of Human Rights, encouraged and influenced her throughout the Fulbright application process and in the creation of a human rights special major.
“I will not be the same person or student without him,” Tek said. “I wouldn’t have quite as strong a future without his guidance.”
Emily Potosky
In July, Emily Potosky of Chantilly, Va., will undergo a six-week orientation that involves Korean language studies, cultural sensitivity lessons and teaching guidance before she begins her assistantship.
But she’s already gained valuable experience at UMW. As a student aide with the university’s Korean Exchange Program, Potosky has helped three groups of exchange students acclimate to life in the United States by helping them move into residence halls, showing them around the community and providing tutoring.
She is eager to reunite with the Korean exchange students she befriended during their studies at Mary Washington and to learn about the country from their perspective.
Potosky’s year in South Korea won’t be her first time abroad.
During her junior year, Potosky was awarded a Cultural Envoy Scholarship by UMW’s Office of International Academic Services and spent the spring 2008 semester studying in Istanbul, Turkey. That experience influenced her decision to apply for a Fulbright award.
“I knew living and doing things abroad was something I wanted to do,” Potosky said.
