PHILADELPHIA –- Marie Gottschalk and Charlene Compher of the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded 2009-2010 Fulbright Scholarships.

Gottschalk, who researches the welfare state and mass incarceration in America, is professor of political science in the School of Arts and Sciences. She received a short-term grant to travel to Japan to lecture at the Nagoya American Studies Seminar for two weeks this past summer.

Compher, associate professor of nutrition science in the School of Nursing, studies adolescent obesity and faculty mentorship. She will use her Fulbright grant to work in the African Regional Research Program at the University of Botswana.

This year, approximately 1,250 U.S. faculty and other professionals have received Fulbright Scholar or Specialist awards to teach or conduct research abroad. A similar number of foreign scholars have received Fulbright grants to visit the United States, with eight coming to Penn next year.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and managed by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. The purpose is to increase understanding between Americans and people of other countries.

Additional information on the program is available at http://www.cies.org.