Recent Holy Cross Graduate Awarded Fulbright to Research and Study in Ukraine

Kaitlyn Mearn ’07, of Milton, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to research and study in an intensive Ukrainian language program at the Ivan Franko National University of L’viv in Ukraine.

Mearn will explore the sociolinguistic and political effects that Soviet policies of “Russification” and other foreign influences (Polish, English) have had on the Ukrainian language. In order to obtain a diverse sample, she will visit main cities in different regions of the country, such as Kyiv and Polava in central Ukraine, Odesa in the south, and Donetsk in the east.

At the end of the study, she anticipates writing up the findings of her interviews in a report or publication so the data can be added to the growing literature on language politics in Ukraine.

Mearn’s interest in Ukrainian culture started at Holy Cross. A freshman classmate who was a second generation Ukrainian-American was fluent in Ukrainian and an active member in the Ukrainian Diaspora community.

“I was intrigued how someone, who had been born in the U.S. and who had never been to Ukraine, could be fluent in the language and be so passionate and involved in Ukrainian community and cultural activities,” she wrote in her personal statement to the Fulbright program.

Currently enrolled in the International Chinese Language Program at the National Taiwan University, Mearn has always had an interest in foreign languages and culture. She took several Chinese classes at Holy Cross.

A mathematics major at Holy Cross, Mearn was co-chair of the Judicial Advisors and member of the women’s track team. Following graduation in 2007, she was awarded a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education to Teach English in Leon, Spain. She also worked as a marketing intern at Boston College.

Following her Fulbright project, Mearn plans on obtaining a master’s degree and working for the federal government where she will be able to combine her interest in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 250,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions.