Southwestern University graduate Jenny Carlson has been named a Fulbright grant recipient for 2002-2003. Carlson, an international studies major from Victoria, will use the grant money to travel to Münster, Germany, to work on a project titled "Female Spirituality as Subversion: Exploring Beguine Heresy in Medieval Europe." Carlson is Southwestern's sixth Fulbright Scholar.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946, immediately after World War II, to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange. Senator J. William Fulbright, sponsor of the legislation, saw it as a step toward building an alternative to armed conflict. The U.S.Studies Program awards approximately 900 grants annually to B.S/B.A. graduates, master's and doctoral candidates, and young professionals and artists. Most grantees plan their own programs, which take place in more than 140 countries worldwide.

Carlson's research will focus on the beguine movement of medieval Europe, which she describes as "a spontaneous emergence of Christian female separatists, committed to celibacy and experiencing radical visions. The contemporary application of this project lies in its illumination of the ways in which female empowerment can be achieved along a spectrum of spiritual expression rather than forced secularism."

Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy Laura Hobgood-Oster has assisted Carlson with her project. She says, "Jenny is a true interdisciplinary student, as she is able to bring together many different areas of knowledge. She is one of the most motivated and intellectually gifted students I've worked with."

"I can only describe Jenny as magical," says Eric Selbin associate professor of political science and Brown Distinguished Research Professor. "Her knowledge is both substantively strong and theoretically sophisticated. She's the type of bright, fun, clever and interested student that we, as faculty, dream of teaching."