Fulbright Student Will Live Alongside Ancient History
Chris Goss ’15 credits his study abroad in Istanbul as one of many important experiences that led to a Fulbright grant allowing him to return to Turkey.
Just recently, Goss, of Glenolden, Pa., spent a week in New York City with the Model United Nations program and returned to campus to help the next day with the National History Day program at Ursinus.
Goss came to Ursinus knowing he wanted to study history and has immersed himself. The history and international relations double-major is a member of both the politics and history honor societies on campus and serves as president of the history honor society Phi Alpha Theta.
He studied abroad in Istanbul in 2013. “My study abroad experience really got me interested in international education,” he said. “It was a surreal experience to learn the history of empires that have long since been destroyed and then spend the day exploring the monuments they left behind.” His courses and research have been focused on Middle Eastern and world history.
Last summer he volunteered to teach English to immigrants in Philadelphia, which was good experience for his Fulbright year, when he will return to Turkey to serve as an assistant teacher in an English language class. Another goal of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program program is that awardees be visible in the international community as goodwill ambassadors of the United States.
Currently Goss is completing honors research that deals with U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East, in which the Fulbright program played a role. The project began in a history capstone seminar, studying U.S. propaganda in the Middle East during the Cold War.
The Fulbright is the flagship international educational exchange program. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides travel grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English teaching assistant programs.
Goss enjoyed studying history at Ursinus because he said faculty encourages deep discussion between faculty and student, with multiple points of view. While all the professors in history and international relations contributed to his success, Richard King, campus Fulbright program adviser, particularly impacted his Ursinus education, and is the adviser for his Goss’s honors research.