Foster Family Endowed Scholarship for International Education
The Foster Family has long connections to Billings and support for Eastern Montana College and MSU Billings. Paul Foster was born in Billings and graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1982 as class valedictorian. He went “back East” to study Russian language and literature of European history at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1986. After this he studied and worked in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and returned to the U.S. in 1989 to earn his Ph.D. in Slavic studies from Columbia University in 1995. He then worked as a university professor and researcher in Moscow, Russia; Sydney, Australia; and Skopje, Macedonia, for many years where he married Elena Petroska, professor of Macedonian language, in 1997. They have two sons, Paul Stephen Petroski Foster (b. 1997) and Marko Elia Petroski Foster (b. 2001). In 2015, Paul and Elena established the Foster Family Endowed Scholarship for International Education to support the dreams and aspirations of MSU Billings students seeking to learn more of the world and use their own skills, thoughts, and sympathy to become citizens of the world. The first scholarship was awarded in academic year 2016-2017.
Impact
“I would like to start off by thanking you for this amazing scholarship. I need it more than ever, and it will help me out a lot. I feel like MSU Billings has shaped me into a better student in many ways. I have learned to truly study and work very hard to make my goals. These skills have taught me to work harder in the job I have now. Thank you again for this generous scholarship. I am thrilled to be able to use it while I am studying abroad in France.” — Madison B., Psychology major