2. Home»
  3. Academics»
  4. Academic Departments»
  5. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies»
  6. Department News»
  7. Leiby, '09, Earns Fulbright Teaching Award

Academics

Leiby, '09, Earns Fulbright Teaching Award

By Jake Weber

leiby_fulbright2.jpg
Albion College's newest Fulbright scholar, Margaret Leiby, '09, is the daughter of Steven and Maria Leiby of Lansing and a graduate of Holt High School and Albion College.

Recent graduate Margaret Leiby is the latest in a streak of Albion graduate Fulbright winners. As a 2009 recipient of a Fulbright Teaching Scholarship, Leiby heads to Germany in the fall to teach English.

"I was ecstatic about receiving Fulbright!" said Leiby, who spent the spring 2008 semester studying in Freiburg, Germany. "I am hoping to improve my German of course and increase my understanding German culture. I also think that it is extremely important that I will be teaching Germans about American culture. Our size and the diversity of Americans and our history are so different from German and European history.

Leiby earned a bachelor's degree in German and women's studies, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Her thesis, "The Effects of Nazi Social Policy on Women," earned her Albion College Honors upon graduation. Leiby also was a four-year member of the women's soccer team and served as senior resident assistant in the Mitchell Towers residence hall.

"Margaret has always been an intelligent and conscientious student, who pursued her own interests, be it women's studies, peace studies or the study of German," commented Albion College modern languages professor Catherine Grimm. "While she was in Germany, Margaret also discovered how much she enjoyed telling people about American society and culture and also helping them better understand the intricacies of the English language."

Albion College seniors have been the recipient of a total of nine Fulbright Scholarships over the past six years. Seven have been teaching scholarships to Germany and two have taken research scholarships to Tanzania \and Brazil. In addition, 2006 alumna Rachael Lyon, an MFA candidate at George Mason University, received a 2009 research Fulbright scholarship which will take her to Vienna, Austria, in the fall of 2009.