Presidential Scholar Karen Pham, a junior at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, was selected for the highly competitive Fulbright Summer Institute at Nottingham Trent University.

The four-week program, which begins in early July, includes studio and workshop activities, with a focus on creativity, culture and history. Institute students will participate in an exhibition of their work at the end of their stay.

This Fulbright Summer Institute honor is in addition to the previously announced 11 current and recently graduated Trojans who received Fulbright Fellowships this spring.

Pham, from Rosemead, Calif., is majoring in art with an emphasis in design and photography, with a minor in East Asian languages and culture. She is the publicity director for the Chinese American Student Association and a graphic designer for El Rodeo yearbook.

USC Roski dean Rochelle Steiner said that she and the USC Roski faculty are thrilled.

“We are extremely proud of Karen’s accomplishments and are certain this experience abroad will enrich her creative work, as well as her international vision of artistic practices,” Steiner said. “The Roski faculty and I congratulate her enthusiastically and are eager to see how this special travel experience impacts her art.”

Pham said she hopes to “enhance her creative eye, learn about the cultures and lifestyles in the United Kingdom, and make new, lasting friendships with people from all corners of the world.”

Nottingham Trent University, located in the United Kingdom’s East Midlands, is one of the largest teaching and research institutions in the country, with 24,000 students on three campuses. The university as constituted today is relatively new — 63 years old — but traces its history to 1843, when the Nottingham Government School of Design was founded.

The director of the summer institute, Michael Scott-Kline, said that the university “will offer everything we would hope for in a Fulbright exchange: a challenging academic component, a rich and multifaceted cultural experience, and enthusiastic host.”

Currently, Pham is in Shanghai, halfway through a four-week study program organized by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ East Asian Studies Center. In the next two weeks, she will be traveling to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing.

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