The U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board recently awarded Hiba Ahmed a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant. Ahmed, a graduating senior from the Illinois State University’s Honors Program, will travel to India as an English teaching assistant.

Ahmed, an English education major with a minor in TESOL from Skokie, Ill., is one of more than 1,900 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2015-2016 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential.

A student in the Honors Program at Illinois State, Ahmed was a Golden Apple Scholar, a writing tutor at the Julia N. Visor Academic Center, and participated in the STEP-UP teaching internship in the summer of 2013. Ahmed was also involved in Urban Needs in Teacher Education (UNITE). She is the recipient of the 2014 Ruth Henline Award, which is the distinguished English education award.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in over 160 countries worldwide.