Two Rutgers GSE Alumni Earn Fulbright Awards

Two GSE alumni, Alamelu Sundaram, Ed.M. ’16, and Jennifer Grom, Ed.M. ’04, have been selected for Fulbright programs, allowing them to take their teaching beyond their current classroom. They will travel internationally to learn alongside educators and experience different educational systems, in order to bring new perspectives back to their local students and communities.

For Sundaram, an ESL teacher and graduate of the GSE’s Language Education program, the opportunity builds on a longstanding interest in language and international learning.

“I’ve wanted to apply to Fulbright for a long time,” she said. “I’ve always loved traveling, learning languages, and getting to know people and cultures different from my own.”

As an undergraduate at Drew University, Sundaram studied in Bolivia through the School for International Training, an experience she says deepened her interest in learning firsthand from another culture. This year, encouragement from her assistant superintendent inspired her to pursue the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program.

Through the program, Sundaram hopes to build relationships with educators, learn new approaches to global education, and share those experiences with both her students and colleagues.

“Most of all, I want my students to feel curious and confident about engaging with the world, while recognizing the value of the languages, cultures, and experiences they already bring to our classroom,” she said.

Sundaram credits her time at the GSE with strengthening her understanding of the connections among language, culture, and identity and shaping the way she supports multilingual learners.

Grom, a mathematics high school teacher, traces her interest in global education to an international experience during her time at Rutgers. As a student, she studied abroad at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, an experience that emphasized the value of learning through another culture.

“More than 20 years into my teaching career, Fulbright felt like an incredible opportunity to do that again as an educator,” Grom said.

During her upcoming international field experience, Grom will have opportunities to meet educators, administrators, community leaders, parents, and students while experiencing another country’s educational system firsthand. 

She earned her Ed.M. in Elementary Education from the GSE in 2004 and later returned to complete a Special Education Endorsement in 2025.

“Rutgers taught me early on to value experiences and perspectives beyond my own, something that began in New Brunswick, expanded globally during my time in Salamanca, and now continues through Fulbright,” Grom said. “The GSE helped give me the confidence to step into unfamiliar spaces, learn from the people and communities around me, and become a better educator because of it.”

For both GSE alumni, international learning offers a way to continue doing what they do every day: remain curious and learn from others.