FARMINGTON — University of Maine at Farmington was recently recognized as a 2012 Fulbright Scholar “top producer” by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Dept. of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs — the Fulbright Program sponsor.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

“UMF is thrilled to be recognized as a 2012 ‘top producer’ of Fulbright Scholars,” said Theodora J. Kalikow, UMF president. “We are especially proud of all UMF Fulbright Scholars who not only are awarded the opportunity to teach and learn in the international community but also to serve as ambassadors to the world.”

UMF’s 2012 Fulbright Scholars were selected through the Fulbright Program’s competitive process based on academic merit and leadership potential and include Gretchen Legler, professor of creative writing, and Jeffrey Thomson, associate professor of creative writing.

Legler is one of two professionals to ever receive a Fulbright Award to Bhutan, a small Buddhist country in the eastern Himalayan Mountains, where she is doing research and teaching college writing, creative writing and American literature.

Thomson, named the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Creative Writing affiliated with the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, will serve a six-month residency at Queen’s University Belfast, beginning in January 2012.

He will teach creative writing, conduct a postgraduate poetry workshop and offer public readings of his published work and work in progress through the Seamus Heaney Centre and Queen’s University School of English. In addition, Thomson will work on a collection of poems based on his ancestors’ emigration experience.

Faculty members who were previous Fulbright Scholars include: Linda Beck, associate professor of political science; Eric Brown, associate professor of English andFulbright Scholar Program campus representative and Fulbright Student Program adviser; Rod Farmer, professor of social studies education; Rob Lively, associate provost and dean of academic services; and Anne Marie Wolf, assistant professor of history; as well as adjunct faculty Bruce McInnis (chorus) and Chris Brinegar (biology). Lively and Marisela Funes, UMF assistant professor of Spanish, serve on the board of directors of the Fulbright Association of Maine.

The Fulbright Program operates in 155 countries worldwide.