Holly Lehren of South Orange has been named as a semifinalist in the prestigious national competition to become a Fulbright Scholar. Lehren is.a graduate of Muhlenberg College Class of 2019 and Columbia High School Class of 2015. She currently works at Luna Stage in the Valley Arts District, West Orange, serving as its Artistic Fellow.
According to the Fulbright website, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program and provides approximately 2,000 grants annually for students to explore varied programs in more than 140 countries, including, “international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide.”
Lehren, who majored in political science and theatre, applied to an open study research award at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. If accepted, she hopes to film a documentary about drag activism in the face of prejudice. Of her mission, she says, “My vision is to take a historical perspective on the role of drag in South Africa’s transition from the apartheid regime and examine the influence of Cape Town’s drag community in the present day, documenting the Miss Gay Western Cape and Cape Town Pride parade.”
She joins one other Muhlenberg alumna and two current Muhlenberg students as Fullbright semifinalists: Mia Becker ’18, Ryan Dimmick ’20, and Olivia Toner ’20.
“These [awards] are very competitive,” says Chris Herrick, professor of political science, director of the international studies program and faculty advisor for the Fulbright award. Their success, he adds, lies both in terms of what they do for our students and what they do for the kind of relations the students develop with the countries that are hosting them.
Finalists will be made aware of their selection between now and May and postings are scheduled to start in the summer or fall of 2020.
Editor’s Note: With the emergence of the global novel coronavirus pandemic, the Fullbright program recalled its 2019-20 fellows in March. Per the Fullbright website: “As this is an emerging situation, circumstances may change as additional information becomes available. As of today, selection notifications for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program are moving forward in preparation for the 2020-2021 academic year. ”
