Avery Dobbs, a senior, has received a 2014–2015 Fulbright International Scholarship to teach English in Bulgaria.
The Fulbright Program is a national education exchange program that offers graduating seniors, graduate students, and alumni the opportunity to pursue research interests or teaching opportunities in one of more than 155 countries around the world.
“I am very excited to be able to go to Bulgaria to teach next year,” Dobbs said. “Bulgaria is in a unique position in the world right now, and to able to experience its political transition firsthand is an unbelievable opportunity.”
Dobbs, of Nashville, who attended Mount Juliet High School, is majoring in political science with a history minor.
On campus, Dobbs is involved with Amnesty International and has helped the campus chapter put together an annual Human Rights Week program for three years. She also served as Amnesty South’s student coordinator for Tennessee during her sophomore year.
In the past, she has also worked with Bridge Refugee Services Inc. in Knoxville by tutoring high school students in English as a Second Language. In 2010, she helped Bridge start an after-school program at a local YMCA to help refugee students with homework and ESL.
Dobbs spent her junior year studying politics and international relations abroad at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. When she got back from the UK she completed a summer internship with US Representative Jim Cooper in his Nashville office.
The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the US government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the United States and the people of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields. An estimated 310,000 individuals have participated in the Fulbright Program since its start in 1946.
For more information about the Fulbright US Student Program and other opportunities, contact UT’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships at onsf@utk.edu or visit onsf.utk.edu.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)