POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Ethan Nguyen, of Philadelphia, PA, a senior English major at Vassar College, has been awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for a year of independent study and travel outside the United States, to investigate "Vietnamese Fairy Tales: The Changing Stories from the Diaspora." Nguyen will use the $25,000 fellowship to research his project in Australia, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and France.
In his winning application, Nguyen described that he will, "collect the Vietnamese fairy tales that the older generation in these communities once heard from their parents…to preserve something that will disappear and be another loss for a people already experiencing loss at the greatest level, a loss of home land." Including himself, Nguyen continued that those who, "walk the line between the languages of Vietnamese and English, are the guardians of the tradition because we are the people who have access to both worlds."
Nguyen was one of fifty new Watson fellows selected from 176 national finalists, nominated by Vassar and the other private liberal arts colleges that participate in the program. Nguyen was one of Vassar's four Vassar nominees this year.
The Thomas J. Watson Foundation inaugurated their annual fellowship program in 1968. Its mission is to offer college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership, and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.
For more information, contact Lisa Kooperman, Director of Fellowships and Pre-Professional Advising at (845) 437-5263, likooperman@vassar.edu.
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