Scott Fry MAT ’11, Education

When Ohio native Scott Fry MAT ’11 signed up for Teach for America, a program connecting top-tier graduates from institutions across the country with teaching jobs in struggling schools, his top choice was Chicago. He welcomed the challenge of getting through to children whom many have dismissed as underachieving.

After finishing his master’s degree in teaching at Dominican University, Fry set his sights on an even greater personal challenge – earning a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in South Africa.


“I see a parallel with what I’m doing with my [Chicago] students. They’re disenfranchised, they don’t have a lot of resources, and education is one thing that will help them in the future,” Fry says. “I felt like I needed to do something after college that had more of an impact. I realized that education was a place where I could make my mark and really profoundly influence the lives of students.”

Fry, who earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from The Ohio State University, will begin his placement in South Africa in January 2012. He will be teaching education majors at the University of Witswaterand in Johannesburg and tutoring children in the townships that surround Johannesburg.

His experiences at Dominican helped him put into perspective both current global issues and his own international history. Fry’s great-grandparents moved from Germany to South Africa in the 1920s, and since that time, their family members have settled in America, Canada, South Africa and Namibia.

Fry was also accepted into the London School of Economics’ public policy graduate program, an opportunity he plans to pursue after finishing his Fulbright. It’s another step in an education that’s positioned him globally to achieve long-term career goals in college teaching and international diplomacy.

“My goal is to be international,” he said. “I love bringing people together and cultures together, and learning about different people.”

To help Fry live his passion for global service, Assistant Provost David Krause and Kathleen Mullaney, director of Dominican’s office of research and sponsored projects, headed an interdisciplinary committee of faculty and staff to guide Fry through the Fulbright application process.

“There were representatives from the School of Business, from the School of Education, the provost. It was a really nice mix of people who were able to critique my application. There were some former Fulbright winners or finalists, so they really knew what the application committee was looking for,” Fry said. “I think it gave me the tools and the ability to be a competitive candidate.”

“At Dominican, I had one-on-one attention. The assistant provost was my advisor. And having people who actually cared about me and my application was so meaningful. It was a completely different experience from what I’ve had before.”

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