Fall 2010 - Lehman College

Four Alumni Win Fulbright
2010 proved to be a banner year for Lehman alumni
competing for prestigious Fulbright Awards for postgraduate
study, teaching, and research abroad. Three
recent alumnae, as well as an alumnus from the Class
Fellowships
of 1975, are now in Latin America, the Mideast, and the Far East, pursuing a variety of scholarly interests, from
Rastafarian craftsmanship to Tibetan end-of-life care. They join Lehman faculty in numerous departments, as well
as fellow graduates, who are previous Fulbright recipients.
The program, which operates in 155 countries, is the flagship international educational exchange program
sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the
United States and those of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic
or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.
Mikaela Chase, Class of 2009:
Studying End-of-Life Care in Tibet
When Mikaela Chase went to Nepal for six months during her
junior year at Lehman, she did not realize it would change her life.
While volunteering in a Nepalese hospital, she saw a little girl, no
more than six years old, dying. By the child’s side were her mother
and grandmother.
“In Nepal, there is no one to care for the
dying,” says Chase. “Family are expected to
do the work that professional nurses would
do here—changing bedpans, wiping brows.
There are no trained nurses.”
That’s when Chase, an anthropology major,
found her calling. A 2009 graduate of the
Macaulay Honors College at Lehman, as well as a Watson Fellow,
she won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2010 to travel to
Nepal to study Tibetan Buddhism and end-of-life care. She previously
studied abroad not only in Nepal but also in Mexico. Her final
Watson summer internship was completed at Harvard.
“The Dalai Lama has said that Buddhism is not only a religion but
also a science and a philosophy,” says Chase, who is spending a
year documenting the responses of Tibetan doctors trained in both
Western and traditional medicines. Her hope is that by studying
non-Western medical practices, end-of-life care policy in the U.S.—
where the topic is still somewhat taboo—can be improved.
“Sixty percent of Americans die in hospitals,” she says. “In order to
improve policy and care-giving practices related to death within the
healthcare system, we need to understand the various ethicalmoral
frameworks that reflect the common human experience of
approaching death.”
Adds Chase: “Death shouldn’t be a topic we’re afraid to discuss.”
When she returns to the U.S., she plans on pursuing her Ph.D. in
medical anthropology.
10 Lehman Today/Fall 2010 – Winter 2011
Jasmine Fryer, Class of 2010:
Teaching and Studying in Jordan
Jasmine Fryer discovered her calling in her eighth-grade Social
Studies class. At a young age, she developed a passion for travel
and knew that she wanted to see the world. “Our teacher taught us
that history was alive and that we were very much a part of it,” she
recalls. “I wanted to see distant lands and
meet diverse people.”
She’s now getting her chance. Fryer, who
graduated from Lehman in 2010 with
a master’s in secondary social studies
education, is working at Al-Ahliyya Amman
University, in Amman, Jordan, as a Fulbright
Scholar throughout the 2010-11 academic
year as part of an English Teaching Assistantship.
Besides teaching, she is studying Arabic.
It’s not the first step on Fryer’s world tour: Since 2006, the Cleveland
native has taught English in Thailand, studied at the School for
International Training in Morocco, and worked as a business manager
for a Chinese export firm in Beijing. “I want to travel around
the world, in part to better understand the global issues that we all
face,” she says, “and see how diverse people tackle these issues.”
She traces her inspiring accomplishments back to her time at
Lehman. “My Lehman professors inspired me to challenge myself
academically, professionally, and personally to be the best I can be
for myself and those around me,” she says. “If I needed anything,
they were willing to help me complete assignments, write recommendations,
offer advice, or help make professional or academic
contacts.” In particular, she singles out Lynne Van Voorhis, assistant
dean of Undergraduate Studies and Study Abroad. “She supported
me from the beginning and urged me to apply. She helped
me network with professors who had studied in the region or had
participated in the Fulbright program.”
When she returns from Jordan at the end of the academic year,
Fryer intends on applying to law school and eventually work in international
law and sustainable economic development. Her goal is
to “empower individuals and meet global challenges that transcend
borders, disciplines, and sectors.”