Students who have applied for the prestigious Fulbright program have always had a bit of luck with their advisor Ryan Larsen, a public affairs doctoral student who is also the associate director for international programs at UNLV. Since Larsen began co-advising potential Fulbrights six years ago, at least one and up to three UNLV applicants a year have landed a Fulbright Scholarship to study or teach abroad. Now, his students' luck is rubbing off on him.

In June, Larsen will travel to Japan as part of the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Program for education administrators. Larsen is studying international education and policy at the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and is planning to complete his Ph.D. in 2016.

He'll come back to UNLV with an understanding of Japanese tradition and teaching styles. In addition to advising students through the Fulbright process, Larsen encourages students to study abroad and finds programs that will fit in with a student's degree program.

"I'm on cloud nine. It fits in perfectly with what I do professionally and my area of study," Larsen, 35, said. "I want to lean more about the culture and society because that's another part of preparing my students. Before they leave, I want them to be culturally competent."

He will spend two weeks in June meeting with education and government officials, traveling to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. The trip marks a personal milestone for Larsen, who grew up in Japan but moved when he was three-years-old. Hearing his family's positive experiences in Japan prompted him to apply for the grant.

"It's also good for me to connect with that feeling of going somewhere you haven't before. It reconnects me with the experience that my students feel every term," Larsen, who studied abroad in Costa Rica, said.

Larsen has worked at UNLV since 2003. He completed his Master of Public Administration in 2006 and currently is working on a dissertation examining U.S. State Department travel warning systems and whether travel alerts are generated for health and safety reasons or if they used to make political statements.

Balancing a doctoral program and a full-time job has been challenging but possible because his professional and personal goals line up. His academic advisors professors Anna Lukemeyer and Lee Bernick, as well as his supervisor, Susan Thompson, director of UNLV International Programs office have supported his goals.

The interdisciplinary nature of the Ph.D. in public affairs is broadly defined so students can create an academic program that is tailored to their interests, said Bernick, a professor in the School of Environmental and Public Affairs.

"Students have the freedom to focus on a particular policy area and gain an understanding of how research skills can help them address public policy issues," Bernick said.

After completing his Ph.D., Larsen would like to work on research partnerships between U.S. and international universities.

Wherever his career takes him, he'll always find a way to encourage students to travel.

"What I like about students studying abroad is that students meet people whose countries and government and politics are different from our own, but they find a common denominator of humanity and become friends and realize we have much more in common than we have different," Larsen said.

About The Fulbright Scholar Program

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946. The program awards approximately 8,000 grants annually. Grants are awarded to U.S. students, foreign students, U.S. scholars, visiting scholars, teachers and professionals. The Fulbright program operates in more than 155 countries.