FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 13, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE STUDENT WINS FULBRIGHT AWARD TO TEACH, STUDY IN AUSTRIA NEXT YEAR Amanda "Mandy" Kellenbarger, a senior at Drake University, has earned a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship and Study Award. Being granted a Fulbright Award is no small achievement. Roughly one out of every 100 students who apply for the award actually receives it. Yet, for those who know Kellenbarger, it would have been more astonishing had her application been rejected. Kellenbarger, who has maintained a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average at Drake, is majoring in German and Spanish and has a minor in business. "Mandy's language skills are out of this world," said Dale Patrick, Drake's Fulbright faculty representative. "She has this tremendous working knowledge of the languages she's learning." Professor Patrick said he believes it was a combination of Kellenbarger's excellent command of the German language and the originality of the research project she proposed that led to her Fulbright grant. The grant will enable Kellenbarger to spend the 2000-01 academic year teaching part-time and completing her research project in Vienna, Austria, where she plans to study the life of Baroness Fanny von Arnstein, a Jewish Prussian by birth who married a Viennese banker and settled in Vienna in 1776. Kellenbarger said she intends to write a historical drama (in German) about Baroness von Arnstein. "It will center around the social events that took place in von Arnstein's prestigious salon during the Congress of Vienna, 1814-15," said Kellenbarger, a native of Lincoln, Neb. "The project will examine the issues of class, gender, religion and nationality in society and politics of the era." At Drake, Kellenbarger has been active in Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, Habitat for Humanity, La Fuerza Latina, Mortar Board and the Drake University Student Alumni Association. She also volunteers as a social worker for Hispanic Educational Resources Inc. In addition, she has studied abroad at Catholic University of Chile, the University of Chile and Humboldt University of Berlin.