UA Graduate Receives Fulbright Grant to Study in Japan

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Frances Hartwell, a University of Alabama graduate from Huntsville, was recently awarded a Fulbright Grant to study in Japan during the 2001-2002 school year.

Hartwell is the first UA student to receive a Fulbright Grant for Japanese study. She began learning Japanese in middle school at the Academy for Science and Foreign Language in Huntsville. Continuing her study of the language, she participated in the UA-Japan exchange program for one year, and won a Capstone International Program grant and the AIE-J scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education to study abroad during the 1999-2000 school year.

During her upcoming stay in Japan, Hartwell will conduct research pertaining to the U.S. security relationship with Japan. She will study Japan’s role in establishing regional security in East Asia and what this role means to U.S.-East Asian security relations as a whole.

Hartwell graduated from UA in May 2001 with a B.A. in international studies. Her parents are Michael and Darala Hartwell. She has an older sister, Michael, and a younger brother, Jonathan.

Hartwell said her career goal is to become a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) in the U.S. State Department. FSOs are government representatives that work at international and domestic sites, such as embassies and consulates, to improve relationships between the U.S. and other countries. FSOs also help the U.S. further American values and goals of foreign policy abroad.

The Fulbright Grant is a national program named after Sen. J. William Fulbright, who introduced the program to Congress in 1945. Fulbright proposed the program after World War II to foster international relationships through educational and cultural exchanges. The Fulbright program is administered through the U.S. State Department Office of Academic Programs and the Institute for International Education.