Naperville student Katie Uram receives U.S. Fulbright Award for research in China
A Naperville student is heading to China later this year courtesy of the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Katie Uram, daughter of Michael Uram and Mary Beaty, Naperville, has been named the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to conduct anthropology research.
She will spend 10 months at China's Guizhou Normal University where she will continue research she started as a student at Lawrence University. Her research led to her Senior Experience honors thesis, "Evolving Patterns: Conflicting Perceptions of Cultural Preservation and the State of Batik's Cultural Inheritance Among Women Artisans in Guizhou, China."
Uram graduated from Lawrence in 2016 with a double major in Chinese language & literature and East Asian studies and a minor in anthropology. She is the 13th Lawrence student to receive a Fulbright award in the past five years.
Her Fulbright project will focus on Miao women and the preservation of their batik handicrafts in a rapidly changing cultural climate of modern China. Batik is a Chinese traditional folk handicraft for fabric printing and dyeing.
"Throughout my Fulbright project, I will be talking to these artisans about how they view their cultural identity, how their perceptions intertwine with their craft-making and how they see the future of their craft," said Uram, a 2012 graduate of Neuqua Valley High School who is currently working at Chicago's Field Museum.
With a long-standing interest in different cultures, Uram began studying Chinese in high school. Her senior year, her family hosted an exchange student from Shanghai. She has since made four trips to China, one to visit her exchange student and her family and three others to study and conduct research as a Lawrence student.
Carla Daughtry, associate professor of anthropology at Lawrence who served as advisor on her Senior Experience project, said Uram's "interdisciplinary knowledge of China, stellar language skills and in-country experience and connections" made for a natural for a Fulbright proposal.
"Katie was a one-of-a-kind Lawrence student," said Daughtry, "and I have no doubt she will be a one-on-a-kind Fulbright scholar, forging strong bi-national relations between the United States and China, and making valuable contributions to Chinese and East Asian Studies and anthropological understandings of the complex effects of globalization on ethnic Chinese handicrafts."
Uram is among more than 1,900 Fulbright program recipients who will conduct research, teach English or provide expertise abroad during the 2017-2018 academic year. Fulbright awards are based on academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The program operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book "Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College." Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.