N.C. A&T’s Ellington Named 2020-21 Fulbright Program Grant Finalist

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 21, 2020) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumna Jaylynn Ellington has been selected as a 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant finalist.

Ellington is the first member of North Carolina A&T’s alumni community to be selected as a Fulbright Program grant finalist and is the university’s seventh Fulbright Program grant recipient. She was an at-large applicant for a study/research grant in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, where she will study gender-sensitive approaches to disaster management.

Her semifinalist status last year for a Master of Global Health at National Taiwan University resulted in her receiving full tuition funding from the university, where she is completing the degree.

Ellington, of Salisbury, North Carolina, graduated magna cum laude from A&T in May 2018 with a B.A. in political science with a certification in Global Health Awareness. She went on to complete Yale University’s Foundations of Bioethics course, receive certifications in global human rights from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and international women's rights and health from Stanford University, and served as an AT&T Inc. legal scholar in 2018.

At A&T, Ellington was an active member of the Student Government Association (SGA) and worked as chief litigator for Enactus. She also was involved in law-focused organizations such as the Henry Frye Prelaw Society and National Black Law Student Association.

In addition, Ellington received the university’s International Business Development Fellowship through which she worked closely with Fortune 500 companies and learned the importance of intellectual property, compliance law and external affairs.

“Jaylynn’s extraordinary dedication to making the world a better place was evident as a N.C. A&T student,” said Margaret I. Kanipes, Ph.D., North Carolina A&T Honors Program director. “Her achievements are another example of the commitment to excellence shared by our distinguished alumni.”

This marks the first time two Aggies have been chosen as Fulbright Program grant finalists in the same cycle. Ellington joins Allison Gilmore ’20, an official institutional semifinalist whose grant application was for one of up to four Combined Community-English Teaching Assistantships in Austria. This grant allows her to work as a teaching assistant for English at a secondary school, pursue a project at a community organization and take university courses on a part-time basis.

Led by the United States government in partnership with more than 160 countries worldwide, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, established by Congress in 1946, offers international educational and cultural exchange programs for passionate and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach or pursue important research and professional projects. It awards about 2,000 grants annually in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.