News Release

Emily Stecker, who received her bachelor's degree in English from The Johns Hopkins University on May 20, has been awarded a grant from the Fulbright Student Program for the 2004-2005 academic year. She is one of seven Johns Hopkins students and graduates this spring to receive a Fulbright grant, one of the most prestigious awards in academia.

Stecker, 21, won a Fulbright to teach English in South Korea but has declined it in favor of Princeton in Asia, a program run through Princeton University. She will be teaching English at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and has been a tutor at the university's Writing Center. Stecker is an accomplished violinist who played with the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, winning its Shriver Hall Award this year. She has also played at Tanglewood and Interlochen and in the Czech Republic. She is building on her international experience of teaching at St. Agnes School in South Africa and will conduct a side project on indigenous instruments.

Created in 1946, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of people, knowledge and skills. The program awards approximately 1,000 grants annually and currently operates in more than 140 countries. Successful U.S. applicants utilize their grants to undertake self-designed programs in a broad range of disciplines including the social sciences, business, communication, performing arts, physical sciences, engineering and education.

Stecker is the daughter of Dr. Nancy Stecker and Paul Stecker of Buffalo, N.Y. For more information on the Fulbright program, go to http://www.iie.org.