College of Charleston Honors College student Christopher Jackson will spend his summer studying at the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde in Scotland on one of the most prestigious and selective summer scholarship programs operating worldwide. Jackson is one of 50 students from the U.S. and UK chosen to participate in the five-week Fulbright Summer Institute. This year is the first year a program in Scotland has been offered and the program is themed around identity formation via politics, technology, and the media.
“To be given such a rare and valuable opportunity reinforced my desire to give back,” says Jackson, a double major in political science and international studies. “As excited as I am to grow my intellectual and personal development, I look forward to sharing my experience with friends and family upon return to the U.S. It will be very rewarding to see how my experience in Scotland will connect to my work and studies back home.”
Jackson is minoring in Japanese studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies, while also a member of the International Scholars Program and William Aiken Fellows Society. He teaches Spanish and will tutor fellow students through the College’s REACH program. While at home in Huntersville, N.C., he still avidly teaches swim lessons at his life long swim club.
Created by treaty in 1948, the U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission is the only bi-lateral, transatlantic scholarship program, offering awards and summer programs for study or research in any field, at any accredited US or UK University. The Commission is part of the Fulbright program conceived by Senator J. William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations through educational exchange. Award recipients and summer program participants will be the future leaders for tomorrow and support the “special relationship” between the US and UK. Fulbright Summer Programs cover all participant costs.
The Commission selects participants through a rigorous application and interview process. In making these awards the Commission looks not only for academic excellence but a focused application, a range of extracurricular and community activities, demonstrated ambassadorial skills, a desire to further the Fulbright Program, and a plan to give back to the recipient’s home country upon returning.
College of Charleston students interested in Fulbright Scholarships or other nationally competitive opportunities, please contact Anton Vander Zee, director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards at nationalawards@cofc.edu.
