Senior awarded Fulbright grant to teach English in Argentina

April 27, 2015

University of Richmond senior Gwendolyn Setterberg of Edina, Minn., has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant to teach English in Argentina.

The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program places recent college graduates and young professionals as English teaching assistants in primary schools, secondary schools or universities overseas - improving foreign students’ English language abilities and knowledge of the United States, while increasing the U.S. student's own language skills and knowledge of the host country, according to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Setterberg is a psychology and Latin American, Latino and Iberian studies double major with a minor in Luso-Brazilian studies. She will be in Argentina March through December 2016.

“I am thrilled to have been offered this opportunity to do what I love: connecting across cultures through language learning,” said Setterberg. “I know that this experience will inform and inspire what I choose to do in the future.”

Setterberg began learning Spanish as a child and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. She first traveled to Argentina when she was 12 to visit her brother, also a University of Richmond graduate, who was studying abroad in Buenos Aires at the time.

She participated in two study abroad projects while at University of Richmond. During the spring of 2012, Setterberg studied in Spain and Portugal while touring with Schola Cantorum, UR’s mixed choir ensemble. In fall 2013, she attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where she studied exclusively in Portuguese.

Richmond’s international education program sends nearly 65 percent of undergraduates to study abroad with university support, while bringing international students from more than 75 countries to study on campus. The university’s Office of International Education has relationships with nearly 80 institutions outside the U.S., enabling Richmond students to study abroad for the same cost as attending the university.

“We are proud of Gwen’s achievement,“ said Joe Hoff, interim dean of the Office of International Education. “The Fulbright award recognizes the scholastic achievements of the awardee and their disposition to promote international goodwill through exchange in the fields of education, culture and science.”

“The University of Richmond, through its many international activities and programming, aims for similar goals, to instill in our graduates the willingness to learn about and become ethically engaged with the rest of the world,” Hoff added.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Fulbright grant recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.

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