Skip Navigation

Three OU Students and One Alumna Named Fulbright Award Recipients

Three OU Students and One Alumna Named Fulbright Award Recipients

May 04, 2022

University of Oklahoma students Taylor B. Cozzens, Liliana Ruiz Macias and Elizabeth Smith and OU alumna Katherine Stroh have received Fulbright U.S. Student awards for the 2022-2023 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. They are among approximately 2,200 selected for this prestigious honor.

As Fulbright students, they will receive a grant to study, conduct research and teach abroad for the next academic year. Recipients are selected in an open, merit-based competition that considers leadership potential, academic and/or professional achievement and record of service.

“We are exceptionally proud of our Fulbright award recipients, who have worked so hard to achieve this tremendous honor,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “Their selection is a testament to our commitment to offering a world-class education in an environment that supports students in reaching their highest potential. We know they will represent the best of OU in their time abroad.”

Cozzens, of Dobson, North Carolina, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of History. He has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Peru, where he will conduct archival and oral history research in the regions of Lima, Junín, Puno, Cusco and Ancash. Following his grant year, he plans to return to OU to complete his Ph.D. and pursue a career in academia.

Macias, of Oklahoma City, will graduate this month with a bachelor’s degree in human relations and minors in nonprofit organizational studies and Italian. She has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Italy, where she will serve as an English teaching assistant at a school in the southern part of the country. Following her grant year, she hopes to return to Oklahoma City and begin her career in the nonprofit sector. 

Smith, of Oklahoma City, will graduate this month with a bachelor’s degree in German and psychology. She has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Germany, where she will serve as an English teaching assistant at a school in Hessen. Following her grant year, she hopes to attend law school.

Stroh, of Piedmont, Oklahoma, graduated from OU in 2021 summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology and Spanish, and has spent the past year as an NSF-supported research intern in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. She has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Ecuador, where she will research the effects of human-mediated climate change on altitudinal range shifts, abundance and infectious disease prevalence in native frog communities in the Ecuadorian Andes. Following her grant year, she plans to begin a graduate program in ecology or conservation biology.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support.  

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is administered at the University of Oklahoma through the College of International Studies. Interested students or recent alumni can contact Fulbright Program Adviser Maura McAndrew at mmcandrew@ou.edu for further information.

For more information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, visit eca.state.gov/fulbright.

About the University of Oklahoma

Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information visit www.ou.edu.