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Fulbright Scholarship Awarded to NMSU 2017 Alumna

Las Cruces, NM – On this edition of PUENTES a la comunidad, bridges to the community, host Emily Guerra spoke with New Mexico State University 2017 graduate, Alma Chavez, about receiving the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to further her studies in forensic anthropology at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. She was born in El Paso, Texas but as a child grew up in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, where she became aware of femicide victims. This influenced her to pursue studies in forensic anthropology and hopefully to someday bring justice for the victims who have not been identified.

A Fulbright Scholarship application became a possibility for Chavez with the help of her mentor, Andrea Orzoff, NMSU associate professor of history and director of NMSU’s Office of National Scholarships and International Education. Orzoff can be contacted to learn more about how to apply for a Fulbright student scholarship or faculty award, at aorzoff@nmsu.edu.

The passion Chavez has for her field of study brought her to discover the forensic anthropology program at the University of Kent, known to be the best in the world in that field. While at Kent, she plans to pursue research and development in forensic anthropology be able to generate more accurate methods to identify femicide victims and undocumented migrants crossing the border.

The primary source of funding for the U.S. government’s Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress to the US. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. More than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries since 1946 have been provided the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research with a Fulbright scholarship.