Hannah Gilson will graduate from Denison this spring with a double major in political science and economics. As a Fulbright grantee, Hannah will serve as an English teaching assistant and a cultural ambassador in Bulgaria.

A native of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Hannah was a volunteer counselor with Reading Camp Cleveland. At Denison, Hannah honed her teaching and mentoring skills, serving as a French tutor with the Academic Resource Center and as a peer advisor and orientation leader with the First Year Office.

Hannah explains that the Gender and Globalization course she took her junior year sparked her interest in how socioeconomic and cultural factors influence policies of developing nations. Hannah works as a research assistant with the Lugar Center in Washington, D.C., a non-profit organization dedicated to proposing solutions to global problems.

For her successes on and off campus, Hannah was awarded a 2022 Presidential Medal from Denison University President Adam Weinberg. “I believe that interpersonal engagement diplomacy is a particularly beneficial way to approach public policy,” Hannah, who is planning a career in international policy, says, “as you target the specific needs reported by the populations you seek to aid.”

Hannah is one of five Denisonians who were offered prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Grants for the 2022-2023 academic year. Funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Fulbright grants foster mutual cross-cultural understanding as awardees spend a post-graduate academic year teaching English, conducting research, or studying at a university in one of over 140 participating countries. Fulbright grants are awarded on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as awardees’ record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields.