Eleven students, professors and professionals will be heading to the United States during the next academic years thanks to support from the Fulbright and Humphrey fellowships, the U.S. Embassy in Rīga has announced.

Four students and five scholars from Latvia will receive a Fulbright Fellowship to study and do research and two professionals will receive a Humphrey Fellowship for a year of professional development work in the United States.

Recipients of the Fulbright Foreign Student Fellowship will undertake graduate work at a U.S. university.  Recipients of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship will conduct research and lecture in the United States.  Humphrey Fellowship recipients will participate in an internship program and develop their professional skills while based at a U.S. university.

Recipients of the Fulbright Student Fellowship include Zane Čulkstēna, director of the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum kim? (Kas ir māksla?), who will work towards her master’s degree in arts at Columbia University; Andris Rimša, who will study for a master’s degree at Harvard Law School; Baiba Bārene, who will work towards a doctorate in psychology at Purdue University; and Rihards Fedotovs, who will work towards his master’s degree in music at the University of the Arts.

Fulbright Visiting Scholars include Anatolijs Borodinecs, assistant professor of engineering at Rīga Technical University, who will conduct research at the Pennsylvania State University; Andris Sprūds, associate professor of political science at Rīga Stradiņš University, who will conduct research at Johns Hopkins University; Modris Dobelis, professor of engineering at Rīga Technical University, who will conduct research at North Carolina State University; Jurijs Dehtjars, professor of physics and astronomy at Rīga Technical University, who will conduct research at the Norwich University Applied Research Institute; and Zane Zeibote, researcher in economics, who will conduct research at Georgetown University.

The Fulbright Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.  The Fulbright Program has provided more than 300,000 participants worldwide with the opportunity to exchange ideas and observe each other’s cultures and political and economic institutions.  Since 1992, the United States has offered Fulbright fellowships to 196 students, teachers, and senior educators from Latvia.

The Humphrey Fellowship recipients are Vineta Polatside, project coordinator of The International Organization for Migration in Latvia, who will study the prevention of trafficking in persons at the University of Minnesota, and Inga Sprinģe, investigative journalist and lecturer in journalism at the University of Latvia, who will study journalism at the University of Maryland.

The Humphrey Fellowships Program provides mid-career professionals an opportunity to enhance their professional capabilities through participation in a specialized year of graduate-level, non-degree academic course work and professional development activities at selected U.S. universities.  Since 2000, the United States has offered Humphrey Fellowships to six outstanding professionals in various fields from Latvia.

The 11 recipients and alumni of the programs were honored during a recent garden party at the embassy in Rīga.

The deadline for the Humphrey Fellowship Program and the Fulbright Student Fellowship this year is Sept. 7; the deadline for the Fulbright Scholars program is Nov. 24.  Application forms and more details are available by visiting riga.usembassy.gov or the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section at 7 Smilšu St., Rīga.

The 11 recipients of Fulbright and Humphrey fellowships pose for a photograph with U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Judith Garber (center, in red jacket). (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Latvia)