Erika Desmond ’12, a candidate for May graduation, has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Austria. She is a creative writing major at Hamilton.
Desmond spent her junior year abroad, studying in Beirut, Lebanon, in the fall and in the Rome, Italy, in the spring. Last summer she was an intern for Institute for Immigrant Concerns at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City, where she taught English as a second language to immigrants and refugees.
At Hamilton she has been a writer and copy editor for The Spectator, co-host of an Arabic radio show for WHCL, a member of the executive board of the Arabic Club and a member of Hamilton Alumni Leadership Training (HALT).
The purpose of the Fulbright Program is to promote “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries.” Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Senator J. William Fulbright from Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has over 310,000 alumni and currently operates in 155 countries, including 50 countries with binational Fulbright commissions such as the Austrian-American Educational Commission.
Funded primarily by direct contributions from the governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Austria, the Fulbright Program provides grants for U.S. citizens, who are recent graduates and graduate students or scholars and professionals, to study, teach, or pursue research in Austria and for Austrian citizens to engage in similar activities in the U.S.
Desmond is the daughter of John and Melodie Desmond of Boxford, Mass. She is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy.
