Seven graduating Occidental College seniors and one recent alumna will be headed abroad next year to teach and conduct research as winners of prestigious Fulbright scholarships.

This year marks the first time Oxy has sent Fulbright winners to Moldova, Romania, Russia and South Africa.

The eight are among the 116 Oxy students and alumni who have won Fulbrights since 2003. Occidental has been one of the country's top producers of student Fulbright awards for 14 consecutive years, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Occidental’s 2019 Fulbright winners are:

  • Allen Chen ’19, an American studies and sociology double major from Alhambra, who will be teaching in Romania.
  • Linnea Dewees ’14, an economics major who will be teaching in Thailand.
  • Lizzie Hansel ’19, a diplomacy and world affairs (DWA) major from Fremont, who will be teaching in Taiwan.
  • Lynn He ’19, a chemistry major with double minors in art history and math from Superior, Colo., who will be a research scholar using spectroscopic analysis to examine an archive of Chinese paintings at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, as well as learning about traditional Chinese conservation methods.
  • Ian Lehine ’19, a DWA and comparative studies in literature and culture (CSLC) double major from Glendora, who will be teaching in Moldova.
  • Samuel Page ’19, a CSLC major from Culver City, who will be teaching in Russia. Page declined a Critical Language Scholarship to accept his Fulbright.
  • Delarys Ramos Estrada ’19, an English major with creative writing emphasis from the Bronx, New York, who will be teaching in South Africa.
  • Chloe Wheeler ’19, a Spanish literature and CSLC double major from Long Beach, who will be teaching in Spain.

The Fulbright program, which covers travel, education and living expenses, is a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.