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USF grad student awarded Fulbright Scholarship
[09.15.2011]

TAMPA, Fla. -- Graduate student and former USF tennis player Lauren Shumate has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Serbia.

Shumate played on the USF women’s tennis team from 2007 to 2010. While spending much of her time playing, practicing and traveling with the tennis team, Shumate earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology. After one particular class, Law and Legal Careers, taught by Judge Raymond Gross, Shumate decided to pursue a master’s degree in political science.

Shumate also works as an intern for Gross, a family court judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Clearwater, Fla., and has worked as a graduate assistant for USF’s Department of Government and International Affairs.

Shumate said she has shifted gears and reinvented herself, a theme she learned from one of her graduate courses, which led her to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship.

“I went from being an athlete to being focused on school and my studies,” Shumate said. “I like constantly learning something new.”

Shumate will spend 9 months teaching English to university-level students in Serbia. She has visited Serbia before because her maternal grandparents are originally from there. She also knows the language and has family living in Serbia. Shumate will teach courses on American studies and debate.

When she returns, Shumate plans to finish her master’s degree, graduate in May 2013 and hopefully start law school that fall.

“It will be great for finishing my degree and giving me an extra step,” Shumate said of the possibilities her Fulbright Scholarship will give her.

-USF-

Filed under:Arts and Sciences Government and International Affairs Student Success   
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Author: Meghan Mangrum
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