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. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs — the Fulbright program’s sponsor.

UMF’s 2012 Fulbright Scholars were selected through the program’s competitive process based on academic merit and leadership potential.

The scholars include Gretchen Legler, professor of creative writing, and Jeffrey Thomson, associate professor of creative writing.

Legler is one of two professionals to receive a Fulbright Award to Bhutan, a small Buddhist country in the eastern Himalayas, 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. 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.