University of Richmond Graduate Named Fulbright Scholar to Turkey
June 3, 2003
Joshua Walker, a 2003 graduate of the University of Richmond, has received a Fulbright student grant to Turkey for the 2003-04 academic year. He was among 1,090 people selected for grants from more than 5,200 applications.
Walker, who was raised in Japan and now lives in Richmond, will spend the year in Ankara at the Middle East Technical University under the supervision of Dr. Huseyin Bagci, a leading international relations scholar. He will study the country's political leadership and the ideological question of where Turkey fits in as the nation forges a path between Western secular democracy and Islamic statehood.
Sponsored by the United States Department of State, Fulbright grants provide funds for students, scholars and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Grantees are expected "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the 140 countries that participate in the Fulbright Program," said Caroline Matano Yang, chair of the scholarship board.
Walker conducted a year-long senior research project at Richmond titled "Leading a 'Torn' Country: Turkey's Ideological and Civilizational Divide." His work in Ankara will be a follow-up study to it. Walker plans to arrive in Turkey in late summer to spend about a month studying the Turkish language. He also hopes to obtain an internship with the Turkish parliament or United States embassy while he is in the country.
A leadership studies and international economics major, Walker is the immediate past president of the Richmond College student government association. In 2001 he studied at Universitiet Leiden, Netherlands, and presented research at the prestigious Dutch university. He is working this summer as a human resources intern for GE Financial Assurances in Richmond.