Three Kenyon Seniors Win Fullbright Fellowships

Mara Bernstein, Jesse Lasky, and Kerry Shannon, all members of the class of 2004, have been named winners of the prestigious J. William Fulbright Fellowship. The U.S. government's premier scholarship program, the Fulbright Program was established in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.

All of the students received research Fulbrights. Bernstein, an anthropology and art history double major from Ann Arbor, Michigan, will research the impact of tourism on the community of Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland. She will examine the island's relationship to tourism and the ways that the community constructs its identity independent of the tourism industry.

Shannon, a chemistry and international studies double major from Belle Mead, New Jersey, will use her Fulbright to study the sustainable development of water resources in northeast Thailand. She will also work with communities to determine how to involve residents in managing their water resources.

Lasky, a biology major from Cheswick, Pennsylvania, will be in Panama, studying the effect on bird communities of the fragmentation of seasonally dry forest caused by ranching, agriculture, and housing.