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Lynne Stillings, a 2009 Connecticut College graduate who majored in music, has been selected to receive a U.S. Fulbright-mtvU Award to conduct music research in Indonesia. Stillings´ recent award brings the number of Fulbrights at Connecticut College this year to four.
Established by the U.S. State Department in collaboration with mtvU in 2007, the Fulbright mtvU program supports projects with significant community engagement and which explore the power of music as a force for global understanding. In addition to conducting research overseas, fellowship recipients create websites, blogs, short films and other media to share their research and experiences with college students in the United States.
Stillings´ research project will examine relationships between children´s musical expression in Indonesia, and Indonesia´s model of cultural diversity that is outside the perspective of many American youths. She will be affiliated with The Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta. While conducting research through the Institute´s music and ethnomusicology departments, Stillings will learn local songs Indonesian children identify as reflections of their values, ideals and social positions.
"The goal of my project is to empower Javanese children through music. Ultimately, I would like to present my research to international NGOs, encouraging organizations to use music to promote children´s rights," Stillings said. "Connecticut College intertwined the concept of being an active global citizen within my studies in music and language. I hope to continue my work and studies in ethnomusicology for children´s rights with that perspective."
Stillings has also received a Critical Language Enhancement Award to support three months of intensive language study prior to beginning her 10-month research project.
Stillings´ Fulbright is in addition to Fulbrights awarded to Ivy Chippendale, a 2009 Connecticut College graduate, who won a Fulbright Research Award for an independent study in Italy; Jacob Daniels, a 2008 Connecticut College graduate; and Johanna Gregory, a 2010 Connecticut College graduate, who have been awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships. Daniels will teach at Vietnam Maritime University in Haiphong, Vietnam, and Gregory will teach at a high school in Germany.
Connecticut College is consistently recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Fellows, with 18 winners in the past four years. Fulbright Fellows receive round-trip transportation to the host country, a living stipend, research allowances and medical insurance. Each year, approximately 1,150 students are awarded Fulbright grants, while the Fulbright-mtvU Award is given to up to four U.S. citizens each year.
Ivy Chippendale ´09, Fulbright Research Award, Italy
Chippendale, who currently lives in New York City and works for a nonprofit organization that provides services to the homeless, plans to spend the year researching the correlation between Sicilian food culture and HIV opportunistic illness specific to the region.
"I will be working with ANLAIDS, an AIDS organization in Palermo, Italy, to better understand the ways that food can be an important preventive measure against co-infection in a region where eating and cooking are at the heart of daily life," she said.
While at Connecticut College, Chippendale majored in Italian and self-designed a second major in Medical Anthropology. She completed an honors thesis on the relationship between food insecurities, poverty and HIV in New London, Conn.
Jacob Daniels ´08, Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, Vietnam
Daniels, who majored in government at Connecticut College, has been traveling and living abroad since his graduation.
"I went to Korea to teach in the winter of 2008 and 2009, and then to Cambodia where I taught at the Pannasastra University of Cambodia and studied Buddhist philosophy," Daniels said. "I´m currently traveling in India."
While in Cambodia, Daniels founded Cambodian Threads, a socially responsible company that sells fairly traded silk scarves made by a family of artisans from a small Cambodian village. A portion of the proceeds from every scarf is used to buy education necessities, including pencils, notebooks, calculators and rulers, which are donated to disadvantaged schools in the same region.
"The Fulbright Fellowship will be a great opportunity for me to continue living abroad and expanding my international and cultural knowledge," Daniels said.
Johanna Gregory ´10, Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, Germany
Gregory, a German studies and history double major from Upper Montclair, N.J., plans to start an afterschool program to examine American influence on German slang and pop culture at the German school where she will be teaching. A scholar in the college´s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, she completed an internship in Germany during her junior year.
"I decided to apply for a Fulbright because I wanted to go back to Germany, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with the people while I continue my learning and research," Gregory said. "I want to give back a little to Germany, which has given me so much," she added.
Four to receive Fulbright awards
06/14/2010
Lynne Stillings ´09 earns a U.S. Fulbright-mtvU Award.
Established by the U.S. State Department in collaboration with mtvU in 2007, the Fulbright mtvU program supports projects with significant community engagement and which explore the power of music as a force for global understanding. In addition to conducting research overseas, fellowship recipients create websites, blogs, short films and other media to share their research and experiences with college students in the United States.
Stillings´ research project will examine relationships between children´s musical expression in Indonesia, and Indonesia´s model of cultural diversity that is outside the perspective of many American youths. She will be affiliated with The Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta. While conducting research through the Institute´s music and ethnomusicology departments, Stillings will learn local songs Indonesian children identify as reflections of their values, ideals and social positions.
"The goal of my project is to empower Javanese children through music. Ultimately, I would like to present my research to international NGOs, encouraging organizations to use music to promote children´s rights," Stillings said. "Connecticut College intertwined the concept of being an active global citizen within my studies in music and language. I hope to continue my work and studies in ethnomusicology for children´s rights with that perspective."
Stillings has also received a Critical Language Enhancement Award to support three months of intensive language study prior to beginning her 10-month research project.
Stillings´ Fulbright is in addition to Fulbrights awarded to Ivy Chippendale, a 2009 Connecticut College graduate, who won a Fulbright Research Award for an independent study in Italy; Jacob Daniels, a 2008 Connecticut College graduate; and Johanna Gregory, a 2010 Connecticut College graduate, who have been awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships. Daniels will teach at Vietnam Maritime University in Haiphong, Vietnam, and Gregory will teach at a high school in Germany.
Connecticut College is consistently recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Fellows, with 18 winners in the past four years. Fulbright Fellows receive round-trip transportation to the host country, a living stipend, research allowances and medical insurance. Each year, approximately 1,150 students are awarded Fulbright grants, while the Fulbright-mtvU Award is given to up to four U.S. citizens each year.
Ivy Chippendale ´09, Fulbright Research Award, Italy
Chippendale, who currently lives in New York City and works for a nonprofit organization that provides services to the homeless, plans to spend the year researching the correlation between Sicilian food culture and HIV opportunistic illness specific to the region.
"I will be working with ANLAIDS, an AIDS organization in Palermo, Italy, to better understand the ways that food can be an important preventive measure against co-infection in a region where eating and cooking are at the heart of daily life," she said.
While at Connecticut College, Chippendale majored in Italian and self-designed a second major in Medical Anthropology. She completed an honors thesis on the relationship between food insecurities, poverty and HIV in New London, Conn.
Jacob Daniels ´08, Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, Vietnam
Daniels, who majored in government at Connecticut College, has been traveling and living abroad since his graduation.
"I went to Korea to teach in the winter of 2008 and 2009, and then to Cambodia where I taught at the Pannasastra University of Cambodia and studied Buddhist philosophy," Daniels said. "I´m currently traveling in India."
While in Cambodia, Daniels founded Cambodian Threads, a socially responsible company that sells fairly traded silk scarves made by a family of artisans from a small Cambodian village. A portion of the proceeds from every scarf is used to buy education necessities, including pencils, notebooks, calculators and rulers, which are donated to disadvantaged schools in the same region.
"The Fulbright Fellowship will be a great opportunity for me to continue living abroad and expanding my international and cultural knowledge," Daniels said.
Johanna Gregory ´10, Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, Germany
Gregory, a German studies and history double major from Upper Montclair, N.J., plans to start an afterschool program to examine American influence on German slang and pop culture at the German school where she will be teaching. A scholar in the college´s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, she completed an internship in Germany during her junior year.
"I decided to apply for a Fulbright because I wanted to go back to Germany, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with the people while I continue my learning and research," Gregory said. "I want to give back a little to Germany, which has given me so much," she added.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Amy Martin, 860-439-2526, a.martin@conncoll.edu or Deborah MacDonnell (860) 439-2504, dmacdonn@conncoll.edu
