New Horizons: Dr. Lorna Ronald and Christian Ramirez on Self-Reflection, Creativity, and Limitlessness
By Jane Warren
At the culmination of the spring semester I sat down with Dr. Lorna Ronald, the director of Fordham’s Office of Fellowship Advising (OFA), to discuss the university’s 2024 recognition as a Top Producing Institution of Fulbright Scholars. What I expected would be a primarily informative interview about cultural exchange, teaching English, and other programmatic details turned into much more. Dr. Ronald reminded me how important it is to pause and reflect on myself as a student and global citizen — someone who is “of the city, for the world.” We all must consider both where we have been and where we want to go. This act of discernment allows us to question and challenge our limits, unapologetically pushing beyond disciplinary and international boundaries in pursuit of our own curiosities.
Dr. Lorna Ronald, Director of Fordham’s Office of Fellowship Advising
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is centered on cultural exchange; each Fulbright fellow travels internationally to pursue studies, conduct research, or serve as English teaching assistants. The English teaching assistantship, in particular, involves working directly with students in a classroom setting— whether they be in elementary school or pursuing post-graduate degrees— and also sometimes pursuing an outside creative endeavor or research project. Thus, the program pushes students to engage in international dialogues and interact with the world in creative ways. Fellows are completely immersed in their host countries’ cultures, sharing both their own personal interests with their new community and being exposed to new traditions, beliefs, and ways of living.
The Fulbright program’s mission is to cultivate cross-cultural dialogues through immersion; as Dr. Ronald remarked, “We need mutual understanding in our world more than ever. We need to understand people who are different from ourselves.” In an age of increasing socio-political polarity, transnational understanding is critical to cultivating more international empathy, collaboration, and harmony.
Beyond the growth that comes from developing knowledge about other people and cultures, we as students also must understand and reflect upon ourselves. The Office of Fellowship Advising, beyond being a place where students can seek guidance in applying to scholarship and exchange programs, is also a center for student reflection and self-creation. Dr. Ronald was adamant that the Fulbright program is not just for the “perfect” student; the selection committee looks for students who are passionate about cultivating connections, crossing disciplinary boundaries, and creating a completely original opportunity for themselves. Fordham students are naturally predisposed to this type of imagination and unconventionality— as a “globally engaged” student body, in Dr. Ronald’s words, we are markedly curious about international scholarship, service, and forming unexpected connections. Service is particularly emphasized both in Fordham’s mission as a Jesuit school and as a cornerstone of the Fulbright program; beyond learning about their host country, each Fulbright fellow conducts a project or creative endeavor that engages their community in the context of their personal academic interests.
I was fortunate enough to talk with one of Fordham’s 2024-25 Fulbright scholars— Christian Ramirez— who is now a year-long English teaching assistantship in Colombia. Christian, who graduated from FCLC in 2023 with majors in English and Theology and a minor in Spanish, is a truly multidisciplinary student. While he once struggled to find the overlap of his diverse academic interests, OFA helped him discover and articulate precisely how they can harmonize. Christian began working with OFA during his junior year of undergrad. He noted that the staff guided him through “a long process of discernment,” in which he paused and reflected on where he wanted to go before moving forward. It was at OFA that Christian began to “tune in” to who he wanted to be and what path would bring him most fulfillment.
Christian Ramirez is a 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar.
More than anything, the Fulbright application process— which Christian has now gone through twice— helped him to develop a clearer picture of himself and his curiosities. The Fulbright award will allow him to explore the intersection of his academic and personal passions: he can develop more closeness with his heritage by teaching English in his family’s home country, and he can study the interrelation of Catholicism, indigenity, and queer activism in the setting of Colombia through his Fulbright-sponsored research endeavors. He was pulled towards the program primarily because it “makes space for being a multidisciplinary person.” Christian sees the Fulbright Program as a space to create something completely individual and self-nourishing; he expressed deep gratitude that the US Department of State has affirmed the expansive potential of his work and the value of his unique voice. Whereas Christian once felt discomfort in the multiplicity and unconventionality of his interests, his work of self-discernment has helped him to become more confident in the fact that there is space for his full self to be seen, heard, and realized. He doesn’t have to abide by one singular definition of success or perfection; neither does any student.
In fact, Dr. Ronald and I agreed that trying to be a definitionally “perfect” student to begin with is quite limiting and reductive; each of us is so much more than a major or a GPA. The OFA helps students to decipher exactly what that more is: how do we each want to serve the world? Where can we go from here? Who are we? These questions often go overlooked as our hustle culture becomes faster and more high-pressured. As Dr. Ronald noted, “in our society, we tend to go from one thing to the next. So we don't tend to give ourselves time to stop and reflect.”
This lack of reflection may come from a belief that going somewhere new or unexpected as learners is too big a risk. To be sure, it is frightening to leap into the unknown. But, as Dr. Ronald assured me, we don’t need to know everything. This was the reminder that resonated with me most from our discussion; as students and young adults, it’s hard to remember that we don’t need to have everything figured out. Today, we are highly pressured to conform to a socially-prescribed definition of “success,” which, while capitalistically and superficially beneficial, often leaves us feeling unfulfilled or incomplete. Dr. Ronald challenges students to go beyond the norm, and wants us to know that we can and should pursue our curiosities without hesitation even if they stray from the conventional.
As Dr. Ronald asserts, the OFA is “a space for a different type of conversation. This is a space beyond disciplinary boundaries for students to reflect on their goals and plans, and to see possibilities… to see how they can craft their college journey in the way that is most impactful.” The staff in OFA is dedicated to supporting students in all stages of their education to discover who they want to become. During our conversation, Christian remarked that he always felt cared for by the office staff, who were essential guides in his journey to achieving a Fulbright Scholarship. More importantly than that: during the application process, the staff helped Christian expand his capacity for self-articulation. Additionally, Christian engaged his perpetual curiosity by maintaining strong, reciprocal relationships with his professors, many of whom have gone on to become his mentors and recommenders. Now, as a Fulbright Scholar, Christian will both cultivate better self-understanding and translate his academic passions into something outside of himself.
Dr. Ronald assured me that the Office of Fellowship Advising (previously titled the Office of Prestigious Fellowships) is not just for the model student. The recently adapted nomenclature, introduced in Fall 2024, reflects OFA’s mission to welcome all students. She encouraged any student who is curious about expanding their educational horizons to make an appointment— there are opportunities for everyone, especially those with interdisciplinary passions and a desire for global immersion. Students just need to show up with open, curious minds; only then can we uncover our real desires as learners and form a pathway that feels genuinely fulfilling.
While the unknown can be frightening, it is also where each of our potential is located— to expand, to share, to learn, to become.
Students interested in pursuing a fellowship (or anyone who is curious about developing their intellectual creativity) can get in touch with OFA at fellowships@fordham.edu. Students can also attend a Fulbright Program information session on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 4pm ET on Zoom. Students can register with this link: https://apply.iie.org/register/4.24.2025-Spring-GPS-8
Jane Warren is a junior at Fordham Lincoln Center pursuing a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science. She is currently pursuing research to combat bias in AI-generated materials, and is also interested in issues of technomaterialism, data feminism, algorithmic inequality, and body politics. In her free time she does yoga, adds to the collage on her bedroom wall, searches for the best sandwiches in New York, and writes personal essays on her Substack.