Holy Cross Alumnus Awarded Fulbright Grant to Conduct Research in Kazakhstan

James Michael Brennan, valedictorian of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2008, has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to study Russian language and conduct research on national identity in Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan.

Beginning in August, Brennan will spend 13 months researching Kazakh culture and government.  His work will include interviews with Kazakhstanis, participation in cultural events, and study of Kazakh history and lore.

“The Fulbright is a wonderful and exciting opportunity to experience and immerse oneself in the other, that which is unfamiliar and foreign, and to integrate that experience into a broader understanding of one’s life in the world,” said Brennan.  “My project will help me to learn what it means to be Kazakhstani, to understand how the Kazakh government utilizes or contrives national identity to cohere a nation state in the modern world, and to analyze how these versions of Kazakh national identity influence the way Kazakhstan interacts with the United States and Russia.”

As a double major in political science and Russian at Holy Cross, Brennan studied abroad in Saint Petersburg, and was a four-year member of the Russian Club.  He wrote his honors thesis on subaltern resistance to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s.  Outside the classroom, he served as a writing tutor on campus and a special needs tutor for middle school students in Worcester.  He was the director of academic concerns for the Student Government Association, and served as a member of both the Academic Affairs and Honorary Degree Committees.  Brennan is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa; Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society; and Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honor Society.

Upon his graduation from Holy Cross, Brennan worked for the Obama campaign as an early vote organizer in Columbus, Ohio before moving to Washington, D.C., where he focused on health care and energy reform as an intern with a government relations firm.

A native of North Smithfield, R.I., Brennan currently resides in Washington.  After returning from Kazakhstan, he hopes to get his master’s degree in international relations and work, in some capacity, for the Obama administration.

Fulbright Grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 250,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions. 

Brennan is one of four Holy Cross students to be awarded a Fulbright Grant this year.  Read more about the other recipients: Gerald Dickinson, Benjamin Rayder, and Kathryn Zingarelli.