Congratulations to Libby Garno (BA, Spanish & International Studies, 2016), who has just been awarded a second consecutive Fulbright grant to work as an English Teaching Assistant in Tunja, Colombia for AY 2018-2019. Libby will work as a Senior English Teaching Assistant, with responsibilities such as participating in language teacher training, determining education policy, and assuming managerial responsibilities at the Universidad Santo Tomás. It should be emphasized that Libby’s accomplishment is a pretty remarkable one — Fulbright states that only in exceptional cases will they award grants to applicants in two consecutive years. Bravo!
As she transitions to her new Fulbright position, Libby reflected on the impact of her Collaboratory work: “I fully believe that my experience as the Speech Production Lab Manager and my experience overseeing research as part of the Collaboratory Project gave me an edge in securing both Fulbright awards. Next year, I will be responsible for mentoring a group of ETAs while also fulfilling my own teaching and training duties, work that essentially parallels the type of work that I performed as a leader and member of the Collaboratory team. I gained and honed skills such as leadership and mentorship, balancing multiple workloads, and working on multifaceted projects as part of a large team during my time in the Collaboratory especially. These skills were extremely helpful while working as an ETA, and are essential abilities for any Fulbright position. I feel immensely fortunate to have received a second award and am grateful to the Collaboratory for what I learned and experienced while working alongside such a large team. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be in the position I am today without all that I gained while being a member of the Speech Lab and the Collaboratory.”