June 16, 2009

Contact:

Liz Babiarz, 404-413-1356
University Relations

Four GSU alumni receive Fulbright grants

ATLANTA - A fourth Georgia State alumnus was awarded a Fulbright grant and will travel abroad this fall to teach underprivileged students in Germany.

Bret McKee, 32, joins three other GSU Fulbright award recipients for 2009. Tyler Owens, 34, will direct Shakespearean theater in the United Kingdom. Yasmin Rahmani, 22, will conduct medical research in Spain and Sydney Lanier, 23, will study language and literature at Queens University, Belfast.

This is the first time GSU alumni have received four Fulbright awards in one year. Last year, three Georgia State students were awarded grants.

Georgia State ranks third, tying with Drexel University, among institutions in the Colonial Academic Alliance for the amount of student Fulbright awards granted since 2004.

The Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Approximately 1,500 U.S. students and 3,000 foreign students receive Fulbright scholarships each year.

McKee will be leaving for the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on Sept. 4.  He will be working primarily as an English teaching assistant in a new program called the "Diversity Initiative," designed to reach out to young German students with immigrant backgrounds.

Also while in Germany, McKee says he plans to study drawing and painting at the local university, advance his tree climbing skills in the Black Forest and research the Red Army Faction, a terrorist organization in the country during the 1960s and 1970s.

"I will get to live in Germany again, focus on perfecting my German, teach underprivileged children, continue feeding my wanderlust," McKee said. "I am also hoping that the Fulbright experience will be an effective tool in the job market."