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Office of URGO
Contact Information

Location: Science Hall 116B
Phone: 612-330-1446
Campus Box 9
urgo@augsburg.edu
Contact Form

URGO

Welcome to The Office of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity (URGO). This office connects students with both new and existing research and scholarship on campus, across the U.S., and internationally. We assist students applying for post-graduate scholarships, fellowships, and educational opportunities. Finally, we provide year-round pre-professional test preparation courses for the GRE, LSAT, and GMAT.

Fulbright Scholar will teach in Indonesia

Emma Sutton '09 always wanted to know more about people who were different from her neighbors. Growing up in a Caucasian, Irish Catholic neighborhood on Chicago's south side, Sutton said she never had contact with people from other races. But her mother, a Chicago police officer, did.

"My mother is very opinionated," she said. "so I was automatically driven to investigate for myself if the things she said were true."

And investigate she did. Sutton's quest to learn about others eventually brought her to Greece, Turkey, the British Virgin Islands, and to Tanzania. This August, she will begin a nine-month assistantship in Indonesia teaching English as a Fulbright Scholar.

In her studies abroad, Sutton learned about "different" people—about ways of living and thinking that were nothing like those she experienced in Catholic grade school and high school. "You need to have some background about people to communicate with them when you don't have the same personal experiences." She believes her studies abroad and the Fulbright program will help her better connect as a nurse and teacher to people around the world.

After she completes the Fulbright program, Sutton plans to become a nurse and work with underserved populations in the U.S. Her long-term goal is to work internationally in areas confronting poverty, war, and natural disaster.

Sutton came to Augsburg for two reasons—to play volleyball and to study science. She was interested in attending a Division III school because she wanted to participate in a sport and have time to focus on academics. Augsburg gave her not only the opportunity to play volleyball for three years but to study biology and chemistry on campus and abroad.

Last fall, she spent a semester on the island of Zanzibar studying coastal ecology and conducting research on the biodiversity of fish in the Nyange reef. She spent hours under water, identifying species and learning how the fishing industry has affected the reef.

As a first-generation college student, Sutton said the Fulbright application process was challenging but rewarding. "It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life." Between a full class schedule and working part time as the peer advisor for Augsburg Abroad, she met with Dixie Shafer, director of Augsburg's Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity program, to write and revise her application essay.

"It forced me to articulate what I wanted to do with the rest of my life," she said. "At the end, I was proud. I told myself it was a great exercise even if I didn't get the scholarship."

Fulbright Scholar will teach in Malaysia

Katie Macaulay '09 didn't know much about the Fulbright Scholarship program last spring. She had heard about the program, but kind of dismissed it as a realistic possibility.

"I thought it was a scholarship of the Ivy League, I thought it was out of reach," Macaulay said. "I'm a small town girl from Minnesota."

But something happened one day last April when Macaulay was studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She hopped on her computer, logged in to Inside Augsburg to check her e-mail and stumbled across the story of how fellow Auggies Ashely Stoffers and Erin Olsen had been awarded Fulbright scholarships.

A year later, Macaulay received word that she too had been selected to be a Fulbright Scholar and will spend the next academic year teaching English in Malaysia.

Macaulay, who graduated from Augsburg in December with an International Relations major and minors in political science, history, and anthropology, had been checking her e-mail in hopes of finding out whether she had been selected.

On Monday morning, her mother called from New Ulm and left two messages on her cell phone. The first said a thick envelope had arrived. In the second, her mother said she couldn't help herself and she had opened it.

Macaulay is the second Fulbright winner from Augsburg this year, joining Emma Sutton, and is the fourth Auggie in two years to receive this scholarship. The Fulbright Program, which is run by the Institute of International Education, has sent students across the world to study, teach, or conduct research for more than 60 years. About 7,500 grants are awarded each year.

Macaulay is looking forward to the experience in another part of the world and to learning how to teach.

"I want to get some more exposure and more experience with Asian cultures," she said. "It's an up-and-coming part of the world."

Macaulay applied to go to Malaysia as it is one of the countries where Fulbright scholars aren't required to be fluent in the native language. She also considered Indonesia (where Sutton will teach English) and Hungary.

Macaulay also proved to herself that achieving a prestigious scholarship is something that she could accomplish. After meeting with Dixie Shafer, the Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity (URGO) last spring, Macaulay spent the summer researching the Fulbright program and deciding where to apply. In August and September, she worked through the application process and on her essay.

"As I was going through the process with Dixie, I learned that while I might not have the background, I do have the foreground."

Congratulations

Fulbright Schoars:
2011: Jennifer Oliver '06 (Germany), Katie Edelen '11 (Norway)                                                2010: Bethany Hellerich '09 (Indonesia), Kieu Thi Le '10 (Viet Nam), Jens Olsen '10 (Viet Name), Nou Chang ('10 (Malaysia)
2009: Kathryn MacAulay '09 (Malaysia), Emma Sutton '09 (Indonesia)
2008: Erin Olsen '08 (Venezuela), Ashley Stoffers '08 (Korea)
2007: Matt Broughton '06 (Germany)

Rhodes Scholar
2009: Brian Krohn

Goldwater Scholars
2011: Austin Wagner '13 (Honorable Mention)                                                                              2009: Al Garver '09, Reid Larson '09 (Honorable Mention)
2008: Brian Korhn '08, Reid Larson '09 (Honorable Mention), Kent Bodurtha '08 (Honorable Mention)

Rossing Physics Scholars
2009: Nathanial P. Johnson '11 (winner)
2007: Kent Bodurtha '08 (winner), Reid Larson '09 (runner-up)
2005: Matthew Broughton '06 (runner-up)

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship                                                                                                    Katie Edelen (Oxford University)             

Udall Scholarship                                                                                                                              Kathy Dekrey