Fullbright Finalist: Frankee Lyons
Frankee Lyons, a UIC doctoral candidate in history, will travel to Poland to continue historical research on Polish-Jewish life and migration in the 1950s. Based in Warsaw for nine months starting in September, she will be affiliated with the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences and have a secondary affiliation with the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw.
Lyons, whose areas of research include Central and Eastern Europe and modern Jewish history, has twice earned support for her Polish language and culture work through fellowships under the U.S. Department of State's Title VIII Program for Research and Training in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. In 2018, she was an Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellow through the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oświęcim, Poland.
In 2016 she was named a recipient of a UIC University Fellowship, a competitive award for high-achieving incoming students nominated by their program for funding that provides four years of both stipend and cost of education support at the doctoral level.
Upon the conclusion of her Fulbright-backed research, she will return to UIC to complete her dissertation. Lyons, a native of Mount Airy, Maryland, received a master's in history at UIC in 2018 and a bachelor's in history from George Washington University in 2015.
Fulbright advising at UIC is split between the Office of External Fellowships, or OEF, and theGraduate College, which provides comprehensive assistance to students and alumni of the Graduate College who seek both UIC and outside fellowships and awards. OEF provides advising and assistance to current undergraduate and professional school students in finding and applying for a range of nationally and internationally competitive fellowships, scholarships, and grants.