Two UNM students earn Fulbright awards

Two UNM graduate students will spend the next year on exchange after receiving Fulbright Awards for the 26-27 school year. Micah Chavez and Esteban Rangel were the two University of New Mexico students to receive the award.

Fulbright seeks graduating seniors and graduate students across all disciplines eager to pursue graduate study, research or creative projects, or English language instruction abroad.

Chavez will be in Aldea, Spain, outside of the city of Santiago de Compostela, and teaching English as an assistant, while Rangel will head to Mexico on a Fulbright-Garcia Robles award to complete data collection for his dissertation project, called "Population Origins of the Mexica: A Bioarcheological Study of Postclassic Migration" with a focus on understanding the Mexica people who founded Tenochtitlan on the site of the present-day Mexico City.

Chavez was able to spend the 2022 academic year in Granada, Spain, which set her on a path of pursuing bilingual teaching as she completed her degree in elementary education.

"I fell in love with the language, culture, and way of life, and it sparked a deep passion for language learning and cross-cultural connection," she said. "After returning home, I continued pursuing Spanish seriously, spending the following summer in Peru immersing myself in the language and culture even further.

"Through these experiences, I recognized how meaningful cultural exchange and multilingual education can be for both students and educators. I had long known that I wanted to live abroad again and Fulbright became the opportunity that aligned perfectly with those goals."

Chavez was named a semi-finalist for the award, but was initially selected as an alternate, which left her feeling disappointed and discouraged. However, a week later, she received another email informing her that she had received the award.

"I froze, she said. "It didn't feel real at all. I sat my phone down and just sat there in disbelief, overwhelmed by emotion. I couldn't even bring myself to open the message fully until after my workday had ended."

Rangel said that while he was familiar with Fulbright, he first learned about the benefits and the process by attending a workshop hosted by the Center for Academic Excellence & Leadership Development in the Honors College.

"My plan to use my Fulbright is to complete data collection for my dissertation project. This involves visiting different federal institutions in Mexico that house osteological collections relevant to my project," Rangel said. "I was originally drawn to this work as it is part of my overall research questions on group identity, formation, and migration during the Postclassic period of Northern Mexico and Mesoamerica."

Rangel had the opportunity to travel to Mexico last summer as part of a LAII Mellon Field Research Grant which helped to lay the groundwork for the data he hopes to collect this summer. As a result, he hopes he'll be able to further strengthen the collaborative ties he has previously established and create mutually beneficial relationships for researchers in both countries.

Both students will head to their respective countries in August.

Students interested in learning more about Fulbright or other scholarships may contact Jesse Wieland, Director of the Center for Academic Excellence and Leadership Development, at [email protected].