Evian Patterson, a 2002 graduate of UNCW, is the third UNCW student to receive the prestigious Fulbright award. This is a record number of Fulbright award recipients for UNCW. According to Raymond Burt, the Fulbright advisor for UNCW students, Patterson was one of 13 UNCW students and one of 4,500 U.S. students to apply for the Fulbright grant last year. Of the 900 recipients, three were UNCW students. Patterson, a Durham native, received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion and will use the award to study Arabic culture.

Patterson is scheduled to leave the U.S. in mid-October to spend a year studying Arabic language and culture at the International Language Institute in Cairo, Egypt. He eventually hopes to earn a doctorate in Islam and international affairs and to teach Islam at a university. Patterson’s goal is to learn why the United States and the Middle East are so divided. “I am interested in the historical interactions between the West and Islam, and the Middle East is the core for Islamic study,” Patterson said. He believes that Americans do not truly understand Arabic culture. “We [Americans] don’t understand Arabic culture, language, and traditions. We as Americans don’t understand a society in which religion is dominant,” Patterson said. While studying in Egypt, Patterson will also focus his attention on the young adult Arabic population. “I will also be including a religious/sociological study of the young adult population in Cairo. This will hopefully be a study of how young Arabic adults in Egypt form popular opinion of the world and how the Islamic religion plays a part in their development,” Patterson said.

Patterson denounces terrorism being associated with Islamic culture. “Osama bin Laden is a misrepresentation of Islam,” Patterson said. He believes that Islam should not be generalized. Patterson said that the Islamic culture that he was introduced to was very peaceful.

Patterson encourages UNCW students to take advantage of opportunities such as the Fulbright program. “This trip to Egypt is a blessing,” Patterson said. The Fulbright Program is America’s flagship educational exchange program. It is sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency, which is an independent foreign affairs agency within the executive branch of the federal government. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under congressional legislation by Senator J. William Fulbright. The program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.