- Mechanical Engineering
- Class of 2015
- Silver Lake, OH
UA alumnus Garrett Dowd ('15) is awarded a Fulbright award to study in London.
2016 Apr 28
Garrett Dowd of Silver Lake, OH, was ready to start a Ph.D. program when he received the best email of his life.
"I shrieked," Dowd said. His parents rushed in to see what happened.
The email said Dowd had received a prized Fulbright award and would start at the prestigious University College London in England in September, studying technology entrepreneurship.
"It is hard to overstate how difficult it is to earn a Fulbright award to the United Kingdom," says Dr. Karl Kaltenthaler, professor of political science and the Fulbright Program Advisor on campus. Kaltenthaler helped Dowd prepare his application materials and practice for Fulbright interviews.
"It's a very prestigious appointment because the UK is so competitive," says Kaltenthaler, a former Fulbrighter and a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee himself. (Last year, for instance, about 1,000 finalists applied for opportunities in the United Kingdom. Only 36 were selected, or fewer than 4 percent.)
Now Dowd finds himself in that elite group, and UA's own. Since the mid-1980's, UA has had nearly a dozen students receive a Fulbright award.
"I'm very honored," he says. "This opportunity in London is a perfect fit for me."
It's perfect because University College London has a strong program for entrepreneurs and because Dowd strives to be an entrepreneur who builds organizations that help others lead a better lives.
"Entrepreneurs in the U.S. and elsewhere are so focused on money," he says. "We need to incorporate other measures of success for companies, like what is happening in the social entrepreneurship movement."
The spring 2015 graduate will spend this fall and the subsequent spring term in coursework, then complete his dissertation (starting his first company) over the summer.
Throughout, he will serve as a cultural ambassador, looking for ways to engage locally through his passions for food and for social responsibility.
"Just like we have in America, there are places in London for people to go if people don't have enough money to pay for food," he says. "Food is already a material of bonding in cultural engagement. I will help out the local community and bond with people with whom I wouldn't normally wouldn't have contact through my normal studies in business; I'll engage through food and volunteerism."
Grateful for UA
Dowd earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering, graduating summa cum laude.
"I had wonderful experiences both in the classroom and out of the classroom that prepared me for London both academically and for serving as an ambassador through the development of soft skills, such as communication and how to collaborate," he says.
While at UA, Dowd lived abroad twice and served a term as Student Trustee.
"There are many other things beyond the academic courses at UA that make it an absolutely amazing university," he says.