Geneseo Honored as Combined Top Fulbright Producer

SUNY Geneseo has once again been named a Top Producer of both Fulbright US Student and Fulbright US Scholar awards, as announced by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education in its annual article. Geneseo remains the only dedicated SUNY institution to be named to both lists in the same year and is one of only seven colleges or universities nationwide to be recognized this year as a Top Producer for both students and scholars. It shares the honor with Ohio State, UNC Chapel Hill, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Hamilton, and Appalachian State.

For the 2025–26 national competition, Geneseo was named a Student Top Producer for the eighth time in school history and a Scholar Top Producer the third time. In 2023, Geneseo became the first SUNY institution to be named a combined Top Producer, in 2017 the first US Student Top Producer, and in 2010 (with Buffalo) the first Scholar Top Producer.

The Fulbright US Student winners for 2025–26 were Jocelyn Bunster ’25 (Czech Republic), Anna Lynch ’23 (South Korea), Kaleigh Silverstein ’25 (Uruguay), and Elinore Voss ’24 (Spain). Those results bring the college’s historic total to 58 awards offered to Geneseo students and alums, with 46 coming in the past decade alone. Final award winners for 2026–27 cycle will be announced beginning in March. 

“Geneseo’s eighth recognition as one of the nation’s Top Producers of Fulbright Student awards reflects the exceptional students the College attracts, the outstanding faculty who mentor them, and the power of a truly transformational liberal arts education,” says Mary C. Toale, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Geneseo students understand themselves as global citizens and embrace the responsibility to engage with the international community. After graduation, they frequently devote their talents to advancing the broader global good through study, research, teaching, and cultural ambassadorship.”

Receiving Fulbright US Scholar awards for 2025–26 were Intekhab Alam, distinguished teaching professor of marketing in the School of Business (Oman), and Thomas Osburn, associate professor of physics (Ireland). Alam and Osburn’s grants bring to 38 the number of Fulbright or Fulbright-Hayes awards Geneseo faculty members have received. 

“The College once again being named as a Top Producer of Fulbright Scholars is a wonderful testament to the research prowess and caliber of our truly dedicated and renowned faculty, whose work takes them around the county and across the world,” says Geneseo President Melinda Treadwell. “The dual US Student and Scholar recognition is a fitting tribute to our faculty’s commitment to the student body and the College having assumed its place nationally as a true Fulbright institution.”

Fulbrights at Geneseo

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright US Student Program has provided more than 400,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. More than 1,900 US students, artists, and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study are offered Fulbright grants to study, teach English, and conduct research abroad each year. The US Student Program operates in more than 160 countries throughout the world.

The Fulbright Program annually offers 400+ US Scholar awards in more than 130 countries for college and university faculty, artists, and professionals from a wide range of fields to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects around the world.

The Fulbright US Student program is open to graduating seniors and recent alumni. The Fulbright US Scholar competition is open to faculty members and other professionals. For more information, contact Fulbright Program Advisor Michael Mills, director of National Fellowships and Scholarships, at millsm@geneseo.edu.

—Michael Mills