Dr. H. Andréa Neves

2022 1946 Society Member of the Year

1946 Society Member Dolores Rinke honored Andréa at the October 2022 1946 Society Luncheon with the following text: 

1946 Society member Dr. H. Andréa Neves embodies the Fulbright Association’s mission of extending the Fulbright tradition through education. Andréa has dedicated her career to global cultural anthropology, including speaking, writing, and teaching of implications of culture on the education process. Her research informs her worldwide travel and inspires her commitments to social justice and to expanding educational opportunities for students worldwide.

In 1997 and 2022, through Fulbright-Hays fellowships, Andréa studied issues of globalization in the education systems of Tanzania and of Uganda. Since that time, she has made several return trips to Tanzania where supported the construction of five schools in the North Mara area of Tanzania. She also invested in the future of several young women from Dar es Salaam, a major city and port on Tanzania’s coast, by supporting them from elementary school to university.

Andréa also leads with a philanthropic spirit at home in the United States. In addition to her extensive nonprofit board work, she has endowed two graduate student positions at Stanford University and 20 scholarships to women graduates at her high school alma mater, Merced Union High School in California.

Most of us know Andréa for her extensive leadership at the Fulbright Association, where she has volunteered her talent, treasure, and time to extend the Fulbright tradition. Fulbright alumni also know Andréa as a rallying force who dedicates her energy to honoring fellow alumni as lifetime achievement awardees and nominating global promoters of peace for the Fulbright Prize. She has opened her heart and home to our community and is an exceptional example of what it means to be a Fulbrighter.

For these reasons, and all the other ways that Andrea goes above and beyond, we recognize Dr. H. Andréa Neves as a 2022 1946 Society Member of the Year.

Andréa’s Biography 

Professor emerita at Sonoma State University, Dr. H. Andréa Neves received her doctorate in educational anthropology from Stanford University in 1984. Born and reared in California, Dr. Neves completed her undergraduate education in Mexico D.F., Mexico, and received a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Latin American studies. She then studied cultural anthropology and early childhood education on a full scholarship from the Mexican American Education Project and received her master’s degree in social sciences from Sacramento State University.

Dr. Neves has taught at the American School Foundation secondary school in Mexico City and the Stanford University School of Education, where she has also been a visiting professor and scholar. In 1997 and in 2002, Dr. Neves
received Fulbright-Hays fellowships to study issues of globalization (structural adjustment) in the education systems of Tanzania and of Uganda. She is a member of the Board of the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation, the Board of Directors of the Green Music Center in Sonoma County, the advisory board of the Stanford University School of Education, the Board of Trustees of Opera San José, and the board of the Berger Institute at Claremont McKenna College. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of Scripps College from 2009 to 2015.

An inaugural 1946 Society member, Dr. Neves has served two terms on the Fulbright Association’s Board of Directors during which she has served as Chair of the Governance & Nominating Committee.