FARMINGTON — One graduating senior and two alumni from the University of Maine at Farmington have been awarded 2016 Fulbright Fellowships.

This highly competitive national program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department to promote good will internationally, enables college graduates, young professionals and artists to conduct research, teach English as a foreign language or pursue a creative project in more than 150 countries.

Recipients are selected based on their academic and professional record, language preparation, feasibility of their project or course of study and personal qualifications. The Fulbright Program awards about 1,900 U.S. student awards annually nationwide.

Senior Travis Bent of Norridgewock is majoring in history with minors in international and global studies, French and Spanish. During his fellowship he will travel to Spain to be an English teaching assistant in social science.

Kyle Manning, a 2014 UMF graduate in creative writing and English, is currently at l’Université du Maine in Le Mans, France, giving English conversation lessons. He will head to Montreal to work on his Fulbright research project on comic blogs as an emerging genre. He will also work with the organizers of a blogging festival and network with these writers.

Caroline Murphy, a secondary education major and 2015 UMF graduate, has been traveling and working at the Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association since graduation. During her Fulbright award she will work as an English teaching assistant in a high school in Pernik, Bulgaria. She will also teach about American culture and possibly coach the school’s speech and debate team.

A faculty committee, under the direction of Fulbright adviser and associate professor of history Anne Marie Wolf, was involved in helping the Fulbright candidates. Members commented on student drafts, conducted on-campus interviews and provided observations for applications.

The State Department recognized the university as a “top Fulbright producer” in 2012, and the school has added an additional five members to its ranks of Fulbright scholars since.