A number of Oakland University students are poised to make a big impact abroad, thanks to the support of generous scholarships from across the university and nation.
“The students and I are so grateful to the benefactors and donors who have established and who contribute to these scholarship funds,” said Brian Connery, director of OU’s International Education and Study Abroad program.
“Arranging to study abroad is incredibly complex, requiring visas and passports, arrangements with foreign partners, complicated travel plans, arrangements to be away from jobs for weeks or months, and so on. But for just about every student, the hardest part is raising the money. These benefactors and donors make the impossible possible.”
Jonathan Huynh is the first Oakland student to be named a Gilman Award Scholar. The $4,000 Gilman Scholarship Award, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, will support his current summer study abroad in China, as well as his planned fall and winter semesters at Nanzan University in Japan.
Currently in Beijing, Huynh is studying Chinese culture and language. The Shelby Township junior has a Japanese major and Chinese minor. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and their countries of study by supporting undergraduates who may otherwise not participate due to financial constraints.
Additionally, several students received OU scholarships totaling more than $12,000 to support study abroad programs in the upcoming summer, fall and winter semesters.
Two OU students, Lauren Catoni (Oxford, England) and Poe Lwin (Beijing, China), each received $1,000 Alumni Study Abroad Scholarship award from the OU Alumni Association. The association awards $2,000 annually to enable students to study and travel in a foreign country. The Alumni Association encourages students to take advantage of the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the global economy and peoples of the world.
Several Oakland students each received a $500 award from the Oakland University Sharp Scholarship Program for Study Abroad. The James A. Sharp and Tessie Baltrip Sharp Scholarship Award program recognizes the tremendous academic and career benefits of learning about other cultures.
The Sharp recipients and their study abroad countries are Kate Bumhoffer, Beijing,China; Jean Cahill, Rosario, Argentina; Jonathan Huynh, Beijing, China; Lauren LaCross, Auckland, New Zealand; Sarah Lazarescu, Oxford, England; Catherine MacMaster, Accra, Ghana; Navin Mohanan, Beijing, China; Jamie Moy, Beijing, China; Stephanie Perlaki, Accra, Ghana; Kaitlyn Phelan, Dublin, Ireland; Alex Pieters, Dunedin, New Zealand; Melissa Sawa; Oxford, England; and Patricia Wyza, Rosario, Argentina.
Additionally, students Sean Cannady and Adam Jepsen each earned an Adler Study Abroad Scholarship to study in Germany and China, respectively. The $1500 awards will assist with tuition, fees, books, travel, and room and board expenses relating to their OU-approved study abroad programs. The award is for undergraduates in the humanities or social sciences who have earned at least eight foreign language credits and intend to study in Europe or China.
Lastly, Shannon Powers, a studio art K-12 art education major specializing in drawing, received a $200 Study and Travel Grant in Art and Art History from the Department of Art and Art History for study and travel to Italy.
