Ukrainian Student at Colorado State University Awarded Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship

Note to Reporters: A photo of CSU student Natalia Kravchenko is available with the news release at www.news.colostate.edu or on Flickr at www.flickr.com/coloradostateuniversity.

Colorado State University is hosting Ukrainian student Natalia Kravchenko this year as part of the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program, a highly competitive program that selects only 145 of its 3,000 applicants each year.

Kravchenko, born in Ukraine, joined CSU in August and has been working on her master’s degree in the Department of Economics. She is working as an intern with the Fort Collins International Center and is an International Presidential Fellow at CSU.

While attending Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University in Ukraine she earned a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics and began to develop her interests in politics, international relations, and business at the Scientific Research Financial Institute in the Ministry of Finance. As a scholar in Sweden, she was motivated to study law and politics at Lund University. Later, when studying in Prague, she learned finance.

The Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program was established in 1992 by the U.S. Congress and is designed to encourage economic and democratic growth in Europe and Asia. The program provides opportunities for graduate students from 12 countries of the former Soviet Union.

Candidates and U.S. host universities are selected through a competition process. Muskie recipients undergo a competitive selection process, and must demonstrate academic excellence, past professional success, a desire to serve their community, and the potential for leadership. In addition to their academic coursework, recipients perform community service projects and complete a summer internship in their field of study.

The Muskie Program is out of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries to promote friendly and peaceful relations.

For more information about the bureau, visit http://exchanges.state.gov/.

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