ARIT is please to announce the establishment of the Evan and Leman Fotos Fellowship. As the funds become available, ARIT will make new awards for advanced research in Turkey.
Dr. Evan Fotos, a U.S. career foreign service officer, completed a Ph.D. in International Affairs from American University. Dr. Leman Yolaç Fotos had a career in teaching and research. She concentrated on English literature and taught English in the family’s foreign service locations and Turkish language at the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. In 2018, the Evan and Leman Fotos dedicated a generous bequest to ARIT. They aimed to advance ARIT’s U.S. research fellowship program. Sadly, both passed away from COVID in 2020.
Because of their generosity, ARIT will build an endowment fund to support fellowships for advanced research in Turkey. The grants will focus primarily on non-U.S. applicants who are ineligible for U.S. federal program support. Such applicants are often Turkish citizens who are graduate students at U.S. or Canadian institutions.
ARIT is grateful to Robert Pollock, Bahar Yolaç-Pollock, and Onur M. Ülgen for their help finalizing the gift.