Carolina faculty recognized with 5 Fulbright US Scholar Awards

This story, originally published at global.unc.edu, was written by UNC Hussman student Viyada Soukthavone ’27.

This year, five UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and staff members were selected for Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards. Every year, the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board select scholars, faculty, researchers and administrators to conduct research abroad and broaden international education partnerships. 

Tori Smith Ekstrand, Christy Avery, Madeline Allen, Krista Northup and Gabriel Sneh received awards this year, alongside 800 other American professionals. Also, this year, 900 visiting scholars will come to the U.S. through the Fulbright program. 

“These Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards will be transformative for Carolina staff and faculty, students and the institution in at least three important ways: One, they open doors for new academic collaboration between Carolina and our international partners. Two, they recognize exceptional scholarship and (if history is any indication) will lead to much more of it from recipients of the award. And three, faculty and staff selected this year will bring their Fulbright experiences into their work every day here on campus, teaching and supporting Tar Heels,” said Heather Ward, associate provost for global affairs. 

For 15 of the last 16 years, Carolina has earned the distinction of Top Producing Institution for Fulbright U.S. Students — this year, it was the number one public university for the first time — and many scholars and students come to Chapel Hill from abroad on a Fulbright award. According to Ward, there is room to increase the number of scholar awards to UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and staff. 

“We always say that Carolina’s faculty are world class. Receiving a competitive and distinguished Fulbright U.S. Scholar award validates that statement,” Ward said. “For the individual faculty member, the Fulbright scholar experience often leads to further collaboration with the host institution, a deep commitment to a specialized area of scholarship, and even lifelong professional and personal friendships.” 

Read below about the five recipients of scholar awards this year. Faculty interested in pursuing Fulbright Scholar and Specialist awards should reach out to the Center for Faculty Excellence. 

Tori Ekstrand

Tori Smith Ekstrand, professor in UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, received the Fulbright-Schuman Innovation Award, funded by the European Union, to expand her studies on AI education and media law. 

Ekstrand will travel with faculty from the University of Tübingen to interview European policymakers and business leaders about transatlantic AI governance.

In her research, she hopes to work alongside European partners to prepare media students for the momentous shifts and differences taking place in transatlantic regulation of the global media and tech industries.

“In this moment, not to overstate it, but [this award] is really everything,” Ekstrand said. “A lot of that has to do with what I do for a living, which is teach the law. I think that we have so many challenges as it relates to our commitment to the law and democracy right now, and our European partners are also feeling that squeeze.” 

Ekstrand is thankful Fulbright bridges scholars who are passionate about the same issues and provides them opportunities to address global challenges. 

“One of the things that’s really empowering and helpful to me is to be in community with people who are also watching this, who are also concerned about this, who are also, I would say, excited about this,” she said. 

Ekstrand will travel to Germany in late August. 

Christy Avery 

Christy Avery, professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, received the 2025-2026 Fulbright-University of Leeds Distinguished Scholar Award to study whether genetics can help identify patients with two common autoimmune diseases. 

“I’ve been looking for new ways to be inspired and new directions. The fact that I can reinvigorate what I’ve been working on for the last 23 years is what I need at this stage of my career,” Avery said. 

Currently, researchers in the United Kingdom are leading the world in genomic medicine. Avery’s project will focus on polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arthritis. If their research is successful, Avery and her colleagues could transform the way people with these diseases are treated. 

“There’s so much satisfaction to think that your research could generate actionable evidence, because so many times our research seems small,” she said. “I’m excited that this has the potential to affect lives in a very positive way.” 

Avery and her family will travel to the UK in January 2026. 

Madeline Allen 

Assistant Director of Global Student Services at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Madeline Allen was awarded the 2025 Fulbright International Education Administrators Award in Germany. 

During a two-week seminar, Allen will engage in lectures, campus visits and meetings with policymakers and institutional leaders in Germany alongside other U.S. higher education professionals. Their goal is to deepen their understanding of German higher education and its current challenges. 

“I think it’s our duty as international educators to continue to educate ourselves, so that we can foster intercultural competencies and skills in the students that we serve,” Allen said. 

Kenan-Flagler’s undergraduate global programs are expanding due to a large interest in global immersive electives. Allen hopes her Fulbright will forge new connections with German partners and help her strengthen programming for incoming and outgoing students. 

“I’m excited to kind of put my student hat back on for a little bit and get to know some other folks and bring my perspective to the table,” Allen said.  

Allen will travel to Germany in November. 

Krista Northup 

Carolina’s director for global partnerships, Krista Northup, was awarded the 2025 Fulbright International Education Administrators Award in Japan. 

Northup participated in the two-week seminar, visiting universities, meeting with education experts and government officials, and learning about higher education in Japan. 

“Japan is one of those regions of the world where we see a lot of potential,” she said, “partly because of the connections to the state of North Carolina, with the inward investment that we have here from Japanese companies and the growing academic partnerships here at Carolina.” 

Northup’s Fulbright experience deepened her knowledge of Japanese society. In addition to learning about higher education, she participated in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and visited important historic sites, including Hiroshima.  

The Fulbright award will help Northup expand the University’s important relationships with Japanese university partners and government agencies, and it will elevate Carolina’s reputation in Japan.  

“Fulbright gave me the opportunity to kind of shout about the potential benefits for more engagement between Carolina and Japan from the rooftops,” Northup said. “Being able to really share more about understanding the cultural differences, both the U.S. side and the Japanese side, to increase our collaboration, is really what Fulbright gave me.” 

Gabriel Sneh 

Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) Fellow and neurology resident at John Hopkins University Gabriel Sneh will complete his research project “Determining causes of pre-hospital delays in presentation for patients with acute stroke in Lusaka, Zambia,” at TROPGAN, or the Tropical Gastroenterology and Nutrition group. While there, he will work under the mentorship of Drs. Deanna Saylor and Stanley Zimba. 

Sneh was unavailable for comment during the time the interviews were scheduled.