UMass Boston Seniors Receive Fulbright Grants
For Outstanding Academic Scholarship

(Boston, MA) Two UMass Boston seniors Michael Plante and Ben Day have received Fulbright grants in recognition of their outstanding academic scholarship. Plante is one of ten undergraduate students across the country traveling to Japan and Day is on one of twenty undergraduates to travel to the United Kingdom. Both students are members of the university's honor program and well-known for their academic commitment and achievements.

Plante is an economics major and member of the university honors program, with a GPA of 3.97. For each of the past two years, he received the Rick Pitino Presidential Medal Scholarship and was awarded the Robert H. Spaethling Prize for Distinction in the honors program last year. An avid student in Japanese language and literature, Plante intends to study economic philosophy in Japan. He also served as president of the Japanese Club and helped to sponsor a visit by the Consul General of Japan in Boston to UMass Boston.

Ben Day, a double major in political science and philosophy, will graduate summa cum laude in June. No stranger to scholarship recognition, Day has received the Knapp in political science three times and received a leadership award for his extensive involvement with the Radical Student Alliance and the campus Human Rights Group (HRWG), which brought acclaimed linguist and human rights activist Noam Chomsky to campus in December. Day was also a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships, and though he did not receive either scholarship, described his presence in the pool of elite applicants as an honor.

In two years of competition, four out of six UMass Boston students have received Fulbrights, and almost every UMass Boston student that has applied for major scholarships, such as the Rhodes, Fulbright, or Marshall, has reached the semi-finals or finals in scholarship competition.

The University of Massachusetts Boston is a richly diverse community that prides itself on excellence in teaching, scholarship, research, and public service. Through its five colleges--the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Management, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the College of Public and Community Service, and the Graduate College of Education--UMass Boston offers undergraduate and graduate study in more than 150 fields, and awards the PhD, the EdD, the CAGS, the MA, MBA, MEd, MS, BA, and BS degrees, and several graduate certificates. The university has an enrollment of approximately 13,340 students and boasts an internationally distinguished faculty of 818 members.

###

4.12.02

Top left: Michael Plante
Top right: Ben Day
(Photos by Harry Brett)

Go to menu