Widener University’s Kripa Dholakia, an assistant professor in the university’s Institute for Physical Therapy Education, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Rwanda for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The award came from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

A resident of Philadelphia, Dholakia is the second faculty member to represent Widener in the prestigious Fulbright program for 2024-2025.

As part of this grant, Dholakia will spend 10 months from September 2024 to July 2025 in Kigali at the University of Rwanda. She will teach content related to her clinical expertise in pediatric physical therapy.

Dholakia joined Widener’s physical therapy faculty in 2019 with more than 20 years of experience in pediatric physical therapy in the medical and community setting.

Following her doctoral scholarship, which explored the ethics of international service-learning as a teaching model, Dholakia’s research investigates global health and disability issues in low- and middle-income countries.

Kripa Dholakia earned a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Mumbai University, India, and master’s and doctor of health science degrees from Drexel University.

Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators, and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad.

Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.

Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. government.

Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in over 160 countries.

In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

Find out more about the Fulbright program.

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Industry-shaping faculty provide close, personal mentorship and share powerful connections that help students build professional networks.

Recognized as one of the Philadelphia region’s leading universities, Widener offers programs and experiences that empower our community of learners to discover and create better futures as scholars, leaders and globally engaged citizens.