UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Tineka Lebrun has been named the new director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring (URFM), part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.
Lebrun was most recently the assistant director of Education Abroad Advising at Penn State, a post she held since 2017. After starting her career as an English teacher in France, in 2004 Lebrun moved into higher education, working for institutions such as Franklin & Marshall College and Georgetown University, and higher-ed nonprofit organizations The Institute of International Education and AMIDEAST.
“Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring will greatly benefit from Tineka’s experience with study abroad opportunities and international scholarships,” said Yvonne Gaudelius, vice president and dean for Penn State Undergraduate Education. “We look forward to her leadership in an office that offers so many opportunities to Penn Staters across the University.”
URFM provides support to all Penn State undergraduate students for applications to external competitive fellowships and scholarships, as well as internal Penn State opportunities. In addition to being the official nominating office for several scholarships, URFM offers one-on-one counseling, workshops and programs from staff, peer mentors and partners across the University.
“I’m looking forward to working with Penn State’s diverse student population, and creating pathways for them to reach their personal, academic and professional goals by engaging with research and fellowship opportunities,” Lebrun said. “The undergraduate experience is all about finding and defining your story and there are so many resources available to students to help with that journey, but they need to be aware of the options and have the skills to take advantage of them, and that is where the URFM can help.”
After earning her bachelor’s degree from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, she earned a master of arts in literature, culture and modernity from University of London, Queen Mary College. In 2019, she was a Fulbright Scholar award recipient for the Fulbright-Nehru International Administrators seminar in India, where she learned about the Indian higher education system.
Lebrun lives in State College with her husband, Jean-Baptiste, and three sons, Theo, Elliot and Jack. She enjoys reading, writing, and exploring diverse cultures through travel, food and music.
Lebrun succeeds Caitlin Ting, who was interim director and director of URFM from 2017 (then the University Fellowships Office) to 2022.
Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.