Dear Members:
It is a pleasure to share information with you on the proceedings of the Fulbright Association’s 27th Annual Conference, “Celebrating the Fulbright Ethos.” We hope you will find this conference report informative. We invite you to explore the opportunities for further involvement discussed at the conference and to make contacts within the Fulbright alumni community.
Plenary Speeches In his keynote address, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs Thomas A. Farrell (Pakistan 1976) encouraged alumni to enhance their Fulbright experiences through engagement and to reach out to diverse and younger audiences.
“As alumni, I would like you…to consider outreach in a broader way, so that others learn about the wealth of Fulbright program opportunities. I’d also like you to stress mentoring, so that others, particularly young people, benefit from your enhanced subject area expertise, your leadership abilities, and your global awareness,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Farrell said.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Farrell recognized the critical roles alumni play in supporting the Fulbright Program. He announced that the U.S. Department of State would increase the funds it currently makes available to the U.S. Fulbright Association and asked the Association to create projects that support the growth of international Fulbright alumni activities.
Closing plenary luncheon speaker Prof. P. Nikiforos Diamandouros (Greece 1978), who serves as the European Ombudsman, noted in
his speech that the purpose of the conference was to celebrate the Fulbright ethos. He identified as elements of that ethos commitments to international understanding, to public service, and to the empowerment of citizens.
2004 Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund Lecture Millicent Hodson, the 2004 Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund lecturer, entranced the audience with her presentation, “Reconstructing Jeux, Nijinsky’s Bloomsbury Ballet.” Her lecture included slides and a video of her research on Jeux and on its subsequent performances. Many in the audience requested an article Dr. Hodson had written on Nijinsky.
Panel Session on Transatlantic Relations The conference program included a panel discussion on “Europe and Transatlantic Relations beyond May 2004.” Panelists were Mark Ellis (Yugoslavia 1985, Croatia 1993), executive director of the International Bar
Association, London; Géza Jeszenszky (USA 1984), who served as foreign minister of Hungary from 1990 to 1994 and as Hungarian ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2002; and John Edwin Mroz, president and founder of the EastWest Institute.
Global Fulbright Alumni Seminar & Global Working Groups
The themes of international understanding, public service, and empowerment engaged participants and inspired plans for action to strengthen the global Fulbright alumni movement. We designed the conference to increase opportunities for participants to interact and build networks. Community organizational specialist Seth Kahan, who has served with the World Bank and other international associations interested in building community, facilitated a two-hour Global Fulbright Alumni Seminar. The seminar resulted in groups forming around the following areas:
Fulbright Association Task Forces The Association’s Arts, International Education, and Science and Environment Task Forces held sessions at the conference. A favorite presentation at the International Education Task Force, “Fulbright 101,” by David Levin, will be available shortly on this site.
Annual Business Meeting of Members
Fulbright Association conferences also include the annual business meeting of members. Led by President R. Fenton-May, the meeting presented information on the Association’s finances and plans. If you would like any of the information presented, please.
Collaboration with the Hellenic Association of Fulbright Scholars
The Fulbright Association organized its conference in Greece at the invitation of the Hellenic Association of Fulbright Scholars, whose
conference “Olympism and the Fulbright Spirit: Humanism in Action” immediately followed. We are delighted to acknowledge Anastasia Papaconstantinou, president of the Hellenic Association of Fulbright Scholars, Rita Panourgia, immediate past president of the Hellenic Association, and Artemis Zenetou, executive director of the U.S. Educational Foundation in Greece, whose collective vision, creativity, and spirit enriched our joint endeavor.
Co-Sponsors and Contributors
We also thank once again conference co-sponsors the Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad and the Arcadia Center of Hellenic, Balkan and Mediterranean Studies and Research; Austin Peay State University; the Fulbright Institute of International Relations of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and the U.S. Educational Foundation in Greece.
We gratefully acknowledge conference contributors the American School of Classical Studies, Athens; the Embassy of the Unites States of America, Athens; the Hellenic Society Paideia, Storrs, Conn.; the Hungarian American Commission for Educational Exchange, Budapest; and Parkboy Construction, Washington, D.C.
We look forward to your continued involvement in the global Fulbright network over the months to come and to greeting you at a future Fulbright Association event or conference. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on the conference or other Fulbright Association events. With best regards.
Sincerely,
Jane L. Anderson, CAE
Executive Director
The Fulbright Association is proud to recognize the following institutions as co-sponsors of “Celebrating the Fulbright Ethos,” the 27th annual conference of the Fulbright Association.
The Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad advances the University’s mission to prepare students for life in a rapidly changing global society. Because international learning is an essential component of an effective undergraduate education, the Center for Education Abroad is committed to providing high-quality, academically-sound, experientially-rich study abroad programs and support services to a wide range of students and institutions.
The Arcadia Center for Hellenic, Balkan and Mediterranean Studies and Research is home to Arcadia’s programs in Greece. It offers a broad range of undergraduate classes in modern, Byzantine and classical Greek studies during both semesters of the academic
year and in the summer. Among its unique features is The Greek Key: Language in a Cultural Landscape, a six-credit course designed to help students unlock the door to cross-cultural understanding during a semester in Athens.
Austin Peay State University (APSU) supports a variety of academically rigorous study abroad programs with a broad base of cultural experiences as a means of preparing students for life and work around the world. APSU Study Abroad to Greece offers the opportunity for students to earn seven hours of credit and spend five weeks in Greece studying the art and archaeology of ancient Greece
and the language of modern Greece. During the program, directed by Dr. Timothy F. Winters (Greece 1986), students spend two weeks on the island of Crete, then travel to approximately 40 archaeological sites from all periods of Greek history. Sites include Knossos, Mycenae, Corinth, Pylos, Mystra, Delphi, Olympia, and many others. Participants also hike the Samaria Gorge and pursue other activities in connection with modern Greek culture. The program is designed to demonstrate that Greek culture is important not only in the ancient world but in the modern as well.
The Fulbright Institute of International Relations at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is a center for study, research and analysis of foreign policy and international relations. Recent conferences have focused on democracy in Russia, the Clinton administration, and presidential-congressional roles in foreign policy, and each has resulted in an edited volume. Future studies will
include the changing American South, including the region’s impact on foreign policy, and democracy and Islam. The Institute’s Office of Study Abroad and International Exchange conducts numerous exchange programs, including the Classics in Greece Summer Program.
The United States Educational Foundation in Greece, established in 1948, administers the Fulbright Program between the United States of America and Greece. The Fulbright Foundation in Greece is the oldest Fulbright Program in Europe and the second-oldest
continuously operating Fulbright Program in the world. It is an autonomous, non-profit, non-partisan, bi-national institution whose governing body is made up of four Greeks and four Americans representing academia, business, diplomatic and professional fields and who are appointed by the U.S. Ambassador, the Honorary Chairman of the Board. The Board of Directors formulates the policies and annual programs of the Foundation to broaden and strengthen mutual understanding between Greece and the United States by offering educational and cultural exchange opportunities to Greek and American students, scholars, researchers, and artists. The Board selects Fulbright grantees based on their academic excellence, educational achievement, artistic ability, and personal character. Since 1948, more than 2,400 Greek and 1,300 American scholars have received grants from the Fulbright Foundation in Greece.
Conference Contributors
The Fulbright Association is pleased to recognize the following
organizations as contributors.
American School of Classical
Studies, Athens
Embassy of the United States
of America, Athens
Hellenic Society of Paideia,
Storrs, Connecticut
Hungarian-American
Commission for Educational Exchange,
Budapest
Parkboy Construction,
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, October 7th
8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Conference Registration
9-10 a.m. Welcome Plenary
10:15 -11:45 a.m. Fulbright Association Task Force Seminars
12-1p.m. Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund Endowed Lecture on Dance–“Reconstructing Jeux, Nijinsky’s Bloomsbury Ballet”
1:15-2:45 p.m. Plenary Luncheon Address
3-5:30 p.m. Europe & Transatlantic Relations Beyond May 2004
7-9 p.m. Welcome Reception Hosted by the U.S. Embassy at the American School of Classical Studies, Kolonaki, Athens Remarks
Friday, October 8th
9-9:45 a.m. Annual Business Meeting
10 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Global Fulbright Network Seminar
12:30-2 p.m. Closing Plenary Luncheon
2 p.m. Conference Adjourns
Thomas A. Farrell
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs U.S. Department of State
Thomas A. Farrell was named by President George W. Bush as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs in May 2002. In this capacity, he supervises all academic programs sponsored by the Department of State, these include the Fulbright Program and the FREEDOM Support Act exchanges. He also oversees State Department initiatives that support Educational Advising and English Language Teaching outside the United States.
Mr. Farrell comes to the Department of State with fourteen years of experience in the private, non-governmental arena that was concentrated on education, professional development, training, and exchange. In 1987, he joined the Institute of International Education (IIE) as Regional Director in Houston, Texas, where he led the local Council of International Visitors office, international student services, a large active volunteer corps, and worked closely with an advisory board of corporate, civic, and academic leaders. He was promoted to Vice President of IIE and transferred to New York in 1990, and assigned to Washington, D.C., in 1992.
He spent much of the last decade developing or expanding activities designed to build international capacity for U.S. university and professional school students, primary and secondary school teachers, international students, and U.S. and international professionals. He supervised the operation of the Institute’s U.S. regional office network in Denver, Houston, San Francisco, and Chicago and through them was involved in significant fundraising activities, advocacy efforts and corporate programs for U.S. and foreign students as well as visitors from abroad. In addition to developing new scholarship programs for U.S. undergraduate students, he was active in both foreign government and U.S. business-sponsored programs to enhance the professional development of American primary and secondary educators and administrators.
Prior to joining IIE, Mr. Farrell served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer from 1978-1987 in Iran, Canada, and Washington, D.C., where he worked in the Department of State’s Operations Center, the Secretariat, and as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State, George P. Shultz. In 1976, while a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Mr. Farrell was a Fulbright Fellow to Pakistan. In addition, Mr. Farrell worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India. He is a long-time member of NAFSA, The Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange and other groups committed to building mutual understanding and respect between the U.S. and other nations around the world.
Mark Ellis
Mark Ellis is Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA). The IBA is the leading international organization of bar associations and individual lawyers in the world. The IBA is comprised of 200 member organizations and 17,000 members from 194 countries.
Prior to joining the IBA, Mr. Ellis spent ten years as the first Executive Director of the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI), a project of the American Bar Association (ABA). Providing technical legal assistance to twenty-eight countries in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, and to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, CEELI remains the most extensive technical legal assistance project ever undertaken by the ABA.
In 1999, Mr. Ellis was appointed Legal Advisor to the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, chaired by Justice Richard J. Goldstone.
Mr. Ellis is also a consultant to The World Bank on investment policies in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and has been an Adjunct Professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.
Mr. Ellis has degrees in Economics and Law and was twice a Fulbright Scholar at the Economic Institute in Zagreb, Croatia. He was also a recipient of two research grants to the European Union and the Institute d’Etudes Europeenes in Brussels, Belgium focusing on the law and institutions of the European Union.
Mr. Ellis is a frequent speaker and commentator on international legal issues and has published extensively on areas dealing with foreign investment in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, international humanitarian law, and the development of the rule of law. He is the co-recipient of the American Bar Association’s World Order Under Law Award, and the recipient of Florida State University’s Distinguished Graduate Award.
Mr. Ellis is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and serves on a number of boards, including the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation at the Salzburg Seminar, the Coalition for International Justice, and the Swedish Institute for Legal Development in Stockholm, Sweden. He has recently been appointed adviser to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on international rule of law initiatives.
Geza Jeszenszky, Ph D.
Professor of History, Foreign Minister (Ret.)
Born in Budapest in 1941. Banned from higher education for two years for political reasons. From 1961 read history, English and library science at Eötvös University, Budapest, receiving an M.A. in 1966, a Ph.D. in 1970. Between 1968 and 1976 on the staff of the National Library of Hungary. In 1976 invited to teach the history of international relations at the Budapest (then Karl Marx) University of Economics, where he was elected Dean of the School of Social and Political Science in 1989. In 1984-86 he was Fulbright visiting professor in history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and in 1996 Helen De Roy Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the author of a large number of scholarly publications.
Jeszenszky was a founding member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (1988), which won the free elections in April 1990, nominating him Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of J. Antall (1990-94). Following the elections of 1994 Jeszenszky became a member of the Opposition in Parliament, and, after another change of government, he was appointed Ambassador to the United States of America. In September 2002 he resumed teaching history and international relations at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He is also teaching the history of Central Europe at Natolin campus of the College of Europe in Warsaw.
Dr. Jeszenszky is married, has a son and a daughter. He is an active sportsman, his favorites are skiing and rowing.
Sandra Kaiser
Sandra Kaiser has been the Counselor for Public Affairs at the American Embassy in Athens since August, 2001. Before that, Ms. Kaiser served as Director of the European Bureau’s Office of Public Affairs in the Department of State. Her previous diplomatic tours include Germany, Estonia and Brazil. Before joining the American Foreign Service in 1986, she worked as an environmental journalist and freelance writer in San Francisco. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in journalism and international relations in 1983.
John Edwin Mroz
President & Founder EastWest Institute
John Edwin Mroz is President and Founder of the EastWest Institute, a fiercely independent international think and do tank. Established as a European-American initiative in the fall of 1980, Mroz built the EWI into one of the world’s pre-eminent non-governmental change agent institutions with some 80 full-time colleagues working in Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and North America. EWI operates centers in Moscow, Brussels, Prague and New York and leadership programs in Istanbul and the UK. Since 1993, EWI has spun-off seven of its centers and programs as independent, indigenous NGO institutions in Warsaw, Belgrade, Kyiv, Budapest, Groningen, Kosice and New York. Mroz has served as an advisor to more than twenty governments including the US, Germany, Poland and Russia as well as the Commission of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe and the G-8. He has received numerous international awards including Germany’s highest award to a non-citizen in recognition of the role he and his Institute played in facilitating German reunification.
A graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the University of Notre Dame, Mroz is the author of a landmark book on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Beyond Security: Private Perceptions Among Arabs and Israelis (Pergamon Press, London and New York, 1980). He writes regularly in the international press on global change and international security as well as on European, Russian, Eurasian and Middle Eastern affairs. Mroz has contributed to Foreign Affairs as well as to journals and books on leadership and management including the Peter Drucker Foundation’s Organization of the Future (Jossey-Bass,1997). His work as a global change agent has been described in numerous volumes including Leaders Who Make a Difference (Jossey-Bass,1999).
Mroz is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has appeared frequently on BBC, CNN, ABC and other news programs. He speaks regularly before business and professional groups most recently including Institutional Investor, YPO, the Russell 20-20, the International Chamber of Commerce World Congress, the Eurasia Media Forum, the Goldman Sachs Foundation’s Future Leaders Program, and the World Futures Society.
Mroz is married to Karen Linehan Mroz of the Institute for International Education. They have three children and reside in Manhattan. His life’s work to make the world a more peaceful place is a realization of a lifetime goal that crystallized as a high school freshman when his father asked his three sons “what do you want to be when you grow up?” This middle son responded “a global change agent”. And the journey continues.
FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION 27th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
ATHENS, GREECE
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
OCTOBER 7, 2004
REMARKS BY
THOMAS A. FARRELL
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Thank you, Fenton. I’m honored to represent Assistant Secretary Patricia Harrison and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Pat Harrison had planned months ago to be with you, but the President and the Secretary of State have asked her to take on the duties of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. These additional responsibilities have forced her to adjust all her plans, so she sends greetings and she sends me.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be with you and to be joined by the distinguished group at the head table. I want to preface my formal remarks today with more than ceremonial comments of appreciation. These prefatory remarks, for me, are actually the most rewarding part of my speech, because I am given a chance to acknowledge people who make a daily contribution — give their professional efforts — and even devote their lives to the Fulbright program we all love and respect.
So, I want to first acknowledge the efforts of the U.S. Fulbright Association’s Board of Directors and of the Association’s Washington staff – Jane Anderson, Lisa Chapin and Marshall Ellis. And I want to acknowledge friends such as Ambassador Jeszenszky, who recently was the Hungarian Ambassador in the United States — a great and committed friend to the program.
And to those Fulbright commission directors who have traveled to be with us — Tissa Jayatilaka from Sri Lanka, Huba Bruckner from Hungary and Barbara Nielson from Romania. And, Michael Hawes, who I believe is here, although I can’t pick him out. Michael, are you here? –The executive director of the Fulbright Commission in Canada. And, finally, my associates from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, David Levin and Pat Schaefer.
I nearly failed to mention Wiltrud Hammelstein, a German Fulbrighter, who is our unofficial, official alumni photographer, who is always at every Fulbright event, and somehow manages to take flattering pictures of all concerned.
I mentioned Pat Schaefer. As many of you know, Pat is the staff director of the Fulbright Scholarship Board. It is really regrettable that the Fulbright Board Chair, Steve Uhlfelder, can’t be with us. But, all of us certainly understand that, since he has been appointed to coordinate relief efforts in Florida, after four hurricanes – and that the call for humanitarian assistance far outweighs the opportunity to be with us in Athens.
I hope, Pat, that you will convey to Steve and other members of the Board the Department’s deep and sincere appreciation for their work. They are absolutely terrific to work with and are most dedicated to our enterprise.
President Bush, in his appointments to the Fulbright Board, has returned significant luster to the Board, and included U.S. education leaders at a level that the Board has not known for decades. And, I hope you in the Fulbright community appreciate this — that you appreciate what has been done for the Fulbright program. I’m a political appointee, and I get very passionate about this — about what has been done for the Fulbright program in this administration.
It’s a level of commitment that we haven’t seen for decades, a commitment that began with appointments to the Board. Individuals such as Robert Bruininks, the president of the University of Minnesota and Richard Brodhead, the new president of Duke University. And the Board includes distinguished professionals from other sectors of the education community, not only in the university arena, but also in the area of secondary education. People such as Tom Lyons, a man who has dedicated his life to fostering leadership development among the rising cohort of teenagers – citizens who will eventually enrich our lives across the professions and various communities. And, Don Vermeil, who has devoted so much of his efforts to serving at-risk youth in Southern California.
In the last decade or so, the Board has certainly benefited from the contributions of committed individuals. I’m not saying that it hasn’t. Committed individuals and community leaders such as Pat Murphy, from Houston, who is sitting over there. And I hope he was anticipating that I was going to single him out. Leaders such as Pat Murphy, former chair of the Fulbright Board, who have helped maintain the mission and preserved the standards of the program.
But broad representation from the highest levels of the U.S. education sector was lacking for almost all of the nineties. This administration has signaled, with its appointments, that it regards Fulbright, and education in general, as a key part of national and international life, and our engagement in the world.
And, resources are returning to the Fulbright program — from the administration and from the Congress — as the Program is more and more perceived as an essential element of our public’s involvement with the world outside our borders.
This conference is exploring the ethos of the Fulbright program. But, in fact, I’m a Fulbright enthusiast, someone whose belief in the program is not drawn simply from the outside environment, or a set of ethical standards or a way of living. But, really someone who believes passionately, emotionally in the value of this program.
Since the Fulbright program’s inception nearly sixty years ago, the program’s purpose has not changed. It still is meant to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and the people of other countries, to strengthen the ties that unite us with other nations, to promote international cooperation and cultural advancement and to assist in developing friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relationships between the United States and other countries of the world.
Personally, I think our chances for delivering on that vision are greater now than they have been in more than a generation. And, I think this renewed opportunity is primarily due to the return of Fulbright to the Department of State, and to the center of our country’s engagement with the world.
In the last three years, we have had Fulbright cited, involved and celebrated — in Congress — at the top of the political leadership of our country — and especially at the White House and in the foreign affairs establishment at the Department of State. We’ve had it cited, celebrated and engaged more than at any time since the program was created.
Secretary Powell, Deputy Secretary Armitage and Assistant Secretary Harrison make Fulbright part of their active, daily, diplomatic lives and they are on hand at every opportunity to advance the mission of the program.
For instance, Fulbright played a significant role in our return to UNESCO. Assistant Secretary Harrison announced a new Fulbright UNESCO scholarship in film preservation at the recent celebration of the United State’s reentry into UNESCO, in Paris.
And, because of our investments in international leadership development over the years, Fulbright helped smooth our reentry into UNESCO, and our welcome upon return, with so many alumni in the more than 160 UNESCO country delegations — and among staff at headquarters, who were generally pleased and grateful to have the United States back in that multilateral, very important multilateral organization.
Some of you may know that the charter of UNESCO is very much patterned on the charter of the Fulbright program and shares our dedication to mutual understanding. You should also know that next year’s focus for the Fulbright New Century Scholars Program will be on higher education policy, helping us shape dialogue on a key set of UNESCO issues of critical importance to the United States and the world at large.
The United States, as a leader in higher education services, and a proponent of national capacity building through quality education, needs to educate many within UNESCO about the direction the world needs to maintain to protect higher education. And, the Fulbright New Century Scholars Program will bring people together in a forum where we will encourage open debate and multilateral discussion to advance those critical issues.
The Fulbright dialogue will be very important at a time when I think that some in the UNESCO world wish to push back significantly against the qualities of openness, transparency, broad access to educational resources and free exchange of information – characteristics that have made the U.S. higher education sector so important to our own nation and to other nations in the world.
Anyway, it’s a pleasure to be here in Athens, one of the pivotal centers of world civilization, where a Fulbright alumnus, a dancer, was the principal artist in the Olympic opening ceremony. So, here in Greece, we Fulbrighters and the Fulbright Program, thanks to Fulbright Commission Executive Director Artemis Zenetou — and to her Board — and to the alumni — are so well placed, not only as leaders in the political life of the country, and the business life of the country but in the artistic life of the country as well. Thank you, Fulbright Greece, for that.
Of course, it is also a pleasure to be in a room full of Fulbright alumni. I think we can, without causing offense to the gods, and without falling into the trap of hubris, take pride in our association with one another, in the contributions of our group and in our Fulbright ethos.
I am honored to be counted among a community of individuals in whom our nations have invested. Honored to be part of a community of individuals on whom the binational mechanisms that Fulbright creates to choose people to represent the larger society has banked some hope and trust for peaceful bilateral relationships and global cooperation.
The investment Fulbright makes in talent continues to payoff in noticeable and not so obvious ways. Just yesterday, many of you may know have noticed — if you were not more concerned with what the Red Sox were doing, or what Vice President Cheney and Senator Edwards had to say in their debate – that the Nobel committee awarded the 2004 prize in chemistry to Aaron Ciechanover, an Israeli Fulbrighter, who spent his Fulbright award period engaged with colleagues at MIT. He’s the sixth Fulbright alumnus to be named a Nobel laureate in the last five years, and joins the ranks of 35 Fulbrighters awarded Nobel prizes for their contributions to humanity.
But, on a less public stage, young Fulbrighters, right now, are engaged in the United States on three college campuses, in conflict resolution programs, that, we hope will contribute to peaceful resolution of issues in the Great Lakes regions of Africa, in South Asia and in the Middle East.
No doubt your own Fulbright experiences have had significant impact. Not just on you personally, but careerwise, and on your profession, your community, your country and the world at large.
We need to repeat these investments. And, encourage those who sponsor and support the Fulbright program, in and out of government, to accept more risk in their investments in human capital and leadership development.
What do I mean by accepting more risk in investment in human capital and leadership development? I’m sure some of you are wondering, “What does he mean by that? “ This is the point that people who care about the program, and serve it, sit up a little straighter and get a bit nervous, don’t you think, Tissa, when I talk about accepting more risk?
At this time in the Department of State, we are urging Fulbright commissions and U.S. Embassy Fulbright Committees — as well as those who serve, like many of you, on screening committees — and the many of you that are working on outreach and recruitment — to allocate resources and attention in more of a venture capitalist mode, in more of a venture capitalist effort.
We encourage you, and we suggest this respectfully, but, we are also following it up with financial resources to those who are willing to take the risk — we encourage you to find potential for leadership at an earlier stage among younger people. We want you to take a risk with a student who hasn’t completely mastered absolute fluency in English, for example, or Arabic, for instance, but in whom you detect potential and the spark of leadership — someone you think will change the world, having benefited from the transforming opportunity of a Fulbright.
We also ask you to seek individuals from among key professions who will widely influence youth, and make sustained commitment to mutual understanding, and include them in the program as participants. And, by key professions, I mean the teaching profession. Not just the higher levels of the academy, but among those in the primary and secondary teaching profession. And in those parts of our societies that influence youth, including the media, the popular media, whatever. But, mainly, I’m thinking of teachers.
We would ask you to include future leaders who understand that to build deep understanding of another society, you need wide experience and therefore it is important for the future leaders of Greece to study in the heartland of the United States, not just in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Or, for the U.S. Fulbright student cohort, it is extremely important to have Americans at Birmingham University, not all clustered at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Find people, recruit people, who understand the value of the program. Fulbright is not purely an academic program. It’s a mutual understanding program as well. We have to spread the talent Fulbright identifies as widely as possible across the United States, and across the countries where we have our Fulbright partnerships. We need to do this so that international students benefit from knowing Americans across our country and enriching lives and institutions more broadly.
In the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, we will continue to look for a diverse program that includes elites. We’re not disowning our elites. We are, in one way or another, almost everyone in this room, some sort of elite — elite in achievement. I suppose Fulbright has helped each of us move into the circles of achievement and influence.
We are still looking for a diverse program that includes elites, and, of course, we want Fulbright commissions and U.S. Embassy programs to make secure investments in talent, but we don’t want Fulbright to be perceived as a mere scholarship program that primarily rewards academic achievement and supports people already committed to studying in the United States or Greece, or people who will travel there, whether or not they receive a Fulbright grant.
We are placing more and more emphasis on younger students. And, finally — I never thought I’d actually be able to say this in my lifetime — we’ve really put our money where our mouth is. Because, this year, we’ve been able to provide more than 1,000 awards to U.S. Fulbright students. This is the first time we have reached this mark since the mid-1950s.
And, more than half of those awards go to graduating college seniors and young professionals and artists, not simply to those already in graduate degree programs, although this sector remains a critically important component of the program.
And, I want to thank Pat Murphy, because he was in at the creation of this initiative, and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, as the entity that pushed the Department of State and the U.S. Information Agency to move in this direction. So, thank you very much, Pat.
In our emphasis on younger audiences and youth influencers, we are looking at new investments for Fulbright in places such as the trans-Sahel region of Africa. This is a region where we would have little impact if we took a traditional Fulbright graduate student or Fulbright scholar approach. Next year, we will ask the Fulbright Scholarship Board to move forward on a plan to develop a program for African students who will serve in the teaching professions there. And we will need to include remedial work at the undergraduate level for these Fulbrighters, who are going to be critical to national development through education in that very sensitive, underserved region of the world.
In Afghanistan, we have focused the program on the young, especially young women, who, for years, under the repression of the Taliban, could not have worked for a university degree. Under traditional Fulbright criteria for advanced degrees, these women would not be eligible for participation in the student program.
In Iraq, as well, we took a risk; we relaunched the program when conventional wisdom would have called upon us to wait, but we didn’t pay attention to conventional wisdom. We listened to the Iraqi university community. And when Assistant Secretary Harrison and I visited Baghdad last year, the university rectors in Iraq said that among the most important things that the United States government could do for them was to reestablish the Fulbright program, and have it concentrate on reconnecting Iraq with the world and on new leadership development in Iraq – with a focus on Iraqi students.
But, to achieve mutual understanding on a large scale, and to enable others to benefit from the multiplier impact we talk about, we need to engage you. We need to engage Fulbright alumni. Alumni need to share their Fulbright experience upon returning home, with students, with colleagues, with family and friends, and with the general public, on both a professional level and a personal level. And, they need to develop a sustained commitment to do that, for a lifetime.
I always remind people there’s no such thing as an ex-Fulbrighter. They’re Fulbrighters for life. And, I think we all accept that, although I’m not asking you to take the pledge at the meeting here.
The Fulbright program plays a significant role in developing international competence and understanding, in fostering cross-cultural sensitivity, and in building leadership skills. It has done so since its inception, in its own concerted and consistent way.
But, the events of September 11th, in particular, have taught us a thing or two. And, the lifetime commitment of the Fulbright program is one of the things we’ve learned that is vital. Because, if we practice mutual understanding and mutual respect and build educational opportunities to allow wide participation, we will defeat forces that look to terror to force change.
During the past three years, our country’s public diplomacy efforts have placed special emphasis on activities to engage, inform and influence publics abroad that we have not reached for a number of years – even for generations – and to increase their understanding of American society and values.
Assistant Secretary Harrison and those of us in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs believe we can best do that by reaching young people and those responsible for their education and development — what Assistant Secretary Harrison calls “youth influencers.” From education ministers to classroom teachers and professors to youth program managers, sports coaches, and parents. Reaching women and non-elite sectors in those societies is an equally high priority for us.
And, we know that among the best ways to reach these audiences is to engage those who have benefited from educational exchange programs, and to set a mission for them, asking for their cooperation in helping us reach out to these underserved groups. Whether we’re talking about new programs or reinvigorated programs, I know, and David Levin knows, and everybody associated with the program knows, that we won’t be able to meet the potential contained in these new programs or reinvigorated programs unless grantees, after completing their awards, actively engage after returning home.
In addition to new grant programs, the State Department has been increasingly focused on Fulbright alumni activities. The Fulbright Alumni Initiatives award program, begun three years ago, provides small, institutional grants to Fulbright alumni to develop innovative projects that will build institutionally supported relationships between a Fulbright scholar alum’s home and host institutions.
The just-created Fulbright Islamic Civilization program arranges for newly returned U.S. Fulbright student alumni to share their knowledge about Islamic culture and societies with U.S. K –12 audiences and the general public.
For a number of years, the Department has provided mini-grants to U.S. Fulbright Association chapters to carry out enrichment programming for visiting Fulbright students, scholars and teachers.
Fenton and I were talking about the marvelous work that’s being done in Georgia, in the Atlanta area, and the number of beneficiaries of the program. And, he and the other members of the Association need to be especially commended for those efforts.
During the past two years, ECA-supported Fulbright Association activities have been expanded, with chapters also mentoring foreign Fulbright students and newly returned U.S. student alumni, and promoting Fulbright program opportunities to U.S. audiences.
I want to cite a couple particularly creative examples. In one case, Fulbright teacher exchange alumni, working through the University of Wisconsin’s statewide network, are reaching out to Wisconsin’s public school teachers. In a second case, the Southeast Virginia chapter is working with public relations and communications students of historically Black colleges and universities in the state to determine how to reach out more effectively to this important audience.
And, mentoring U.S. Fulbright student alumni about business and industry employment opportunities is a very important part of the alumni association work in South Florida.
We value these initiatives and the benefits they provide, and we note the impressive cost sharing provided by the different Fulbright Association chapters. In the case of the Atlanta chapter, they received a $3,000 dollar award funded by ECA, which they leveraged into about $11,000 in cost sharing.
The U.S. Fulbright Association and the National Fulbright Associations abroad play a key role in building bridges to their communities for a variety of purposes, including offering an important means for alumni to remain engaged, and to implement the follow-on activities that I mentioned a moment ago.
And those follow-on activities need to include advocacy — educating people about the Fulbright Program. This is essential, whether it’s in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, or at the state and local level or with government ministries abroad – often times we forget this critically important sector representing the foreign government partners’ support of the Fulbright bilateral relationship.
Many of you probably don’t realize that although the 51 Fulbright commissions around the world share equally in program design and priority setting for the Fulbright program, there is a significant minority of Fulbright commissions that receive absolutely no direct funding from the foreign partner government. That situation really must change.
Joint funding of Fulbright is a priority, both of the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary Armitage. In our discussions and communications with our U.S. ambassadors abroad, we make the point that Fulbright is an opportunity to be shared. It’s not a burden to be shouldered. It’s an opportunity to be shared, and it’s time to prove to the American people and those people in the partner nation — in other words, those in the binational relationship — that both partner governments are really committed to the program. In the world in which we work, in our environment, the best way to prove that is through financial support. Joint funding, along with joint priority setting, open recruitment and transparent selection processes are integral parts of the Fulbright ethos.
So, advocacy is most important, including educating others about the need for financial support, especially support by bilateral partners. As alumni, I would like you, if you can, during your conference here and in the weeks ahead, to consider outreach in a broader way, so that others learn about the wealth of Fulbright program opportunities. I’d also like you to stress mentoring, so that others, particularly young people, benefit from your enhanced subject area expertise, your leadership abilities, and your global awareness.
The State Department is now taking a coordinated approach to alumni affairs, involving all our exchange programs. Each of the different program offices in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has allocated funds to create this office, to support different alumni programs and services. These support activities should include the Fulbright program, and the national Fulbright associations abroad, and we’ll work to see that that happens.
I wanted to point something out to you. Maybe some of you who are adept at surfing the web have already seen this. But, last week, the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy published its 2004 report. In that report, the authors expressed concern that returned grantees, State Department’s funded grantees, may not be maintaining the momentum generated by their exchanges. The Commission would like to see stronger national Fulbright alumni associations. And, in fact, it criticizes Fulbright associations around the world for being complacent, for not doing more.
Fulbright alumni associations can take comfort from the fact that they are being noticed, even though they are being criticized. You know, I come from the school of thought that believes any bit of publicity is good, whether it’s negative or positive. And, certainly we in ECA only think positively of the U.S. Fulbright Association and the other associations abroad.
Yet, given the varying stages of the development of the different associations and the environments in which each operates, there is much that can be learned from one another. You U.S. alumni, especially, I think, can learn from some of the key programs in Germany and Japan and, in fact, what the Humphrey program Alumni Association does around the world.
But, also, I believe that the U.S. Fulbright Association has the background and the capacity to teach, not only to learn from others, but also to teach others, and to mentor other associations.
We would like to see additional efforts taking place to support the global Fulbright association network. To help in this effort, we in ECA, using appropriated funds, will increase our support to the U.S. Fulbright Association by 25 percent this year.
As you know, we provide about $60,000 a year to you, so we’ll provide another $15,000, and we hope that the Association’s leadership will do its usual good job and leverage our contribution. We hope that you will be able to match, in your traditionally very important way, our contribution to add more resources.
We would like to see this resulting $30,000 well used to strengthen the worldwide Fulbright network, including your own work — perhaps with the U.S. Association mentoring less developed national Fulbright associations abroad, or developing a best practices manual, something like that. We in the Department of State, David Levin, and others, look forward to collaborating with you on your plans.
All of our efforts are necessary, individually and collectively, in the United States and abroad, in order to focus the work of Fulbright grantees and alumni efforts after the grantees return home.
All of our efforts are part of a long-term sustained investment to increase international understanding and to create a more peaceful, prosperous, secure and just world. Your role, as alumni, and your contributions, are essential and very much appreciated by me, by the leadership of the State Department, and by the people in Congress who make these programs possible.
Thank you all for that, and for doing everything you do, every day, and please continue to work just as hard, and remain just as committed to the Fulbright ethos and, if you don’t find my approach too emotional, to the Fulbright enthusiasm. Thanks very much.
Fulbright Association
Science and Technology Task Force
Athens Meeting Minutes
Fall 2004
· Approximately 30 persons attended the SETF meeting. Introductions were made and discipline areas ranged from biology to engineering to chemistry to medicine (physicians, nurses). In addition to a few guests in non-science areas.
· Initial presentation was given by Michael Murphy (outline attached) emphasizing the need to teach ethics in science. Specific recommendations were made for several resources, including Rachel’s Elements of Moral Philosophy as a good introduction to moral/ethical theory.
· The issue of science Fulbright projects and applications was addressed. Two unfortunate phenomena were noted:
1. The low priority of science in many Fulbright program descriptions (usually listed in the category of “other” for country-specific applications)
2. The poor quality of some science Fulbright Proposals. The projects were often enormously technical without bothering to address the Fulbright selection criteria (for example, little attention paid to issues of cultural exchange and cultural sensitivity)
· The next presentation was given by Dr. Cynthia Henderson on her project in Cameroon, Africa. While initially on a theater education and outreach endeavor, this project beautifully blossomed into the use of theater to communicate information about HIV and resulted in a wonderful documentary screened twice at the Fulbright meetings. A superb example of cultural exchange as many Cameroonians were involved as was a Ukrainian documentary film expert.
· The third presentation was by Dr. Eric Howard explaining the Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology which has no direct affiliation with the Fulbright Association.
· Finally, ideas were gathered for further action by the SETF. Dr. Fenton May suggested a thrust to get more equitable involvement of women and minorities in the sciences. Michael Murphy requested some action on getting higher priorities for science disciplines in more Fulbright programs. The SETF group expressed a strong interest in advocacy for global science issues and policy issues. Encouraging colleagues to become AAAS Congressional Fellows was one route suggested for this project.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Murphy
FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION TASK FORCE NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2004
On October 7th 2004, Jane Anderson, Executive Director of the Fulbright Association, convened the International Education Task Force. The overall Fulbright Conference was abbreviated this year due to the combining of the Annual meeting followed by the Hellenic Association of Fulbright Scholars’ Conference which was to follow on the 9thand 10th of October in Athens, Greece. Jane introduced Jenise Englund, co-chair of the IETF (Dr. Jenny Johnson is the other co-chair, who was not able to attend this year), and then the panel of four speakers. Following is a brief resume of their presentations.
David Levin, Senior Program Manager, Diversity Coordinator, and Fulbright Association Liaison, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State entitled his talk: “Fulbright 101”. He briefly gave the chronology of the Fulbright Programs. Many Fulbrighters are not aware of the more than 150 countries (including Iraq and Afghanistan) currently involved. Of particular interest to this co-chair of the IETF is that more than 25% of the Fulbright Program budget has been delegated and is being spent on the Islamic world—long overdue. There are 30 different programs with different times, schedules, and administrations.
The present and future goals include recruiting from “broader audiences”: minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, Native Americans, and students from lesser-known colleges, universities. David Levin is planning to make a written version of his report available to the Association in the near future.
Tony Claudino, program manager, Fulbright Student Outreach, Institute of International Education (IIE), gave an overview of the diverse backgrounds of 2004 students and the ongoing efforts to reach out to “new” formally under represented colleges and universities. During the last five years almost 20% of the applications were from minorities (8% of the Asians, 12% African-American, 4% Native American, and 7% Hispanic). There is also a new website: http://www.fulbrightonline.org to facilitate finding information before the Fulbright award, communicating during the grant and/or exchange, and afterwards. IIE plans to publish a newsletter and to make a DVD of testimonials readily available.
David Larsen, Vice President, Arcadia University, and Director, Arcadia University Center for Education Abroad has extensive experience with the Fulbright Association (President in the mid 80’s), working for the IIE U.S. student programs, the national committee on overseas
grants, and many other official activities up to his own program at Arcadia University, which has been in Athens for 15 years. Arcadia receives students from more than 330 colleges and universities. Dr. Larsen reminded us that the “Fulbright is not the only game in town,” and he described some of the other ongoing, worthy exchange and foreign student programs. There is a commission studying all these to report to Congress in 2005.
Donald Kelley, Director, Fulbright Institute of International Relations, University of Arkansas reminded the participants of the two parts of the Fulbright tradition: 1) to go abroad to study, teach, do research, and 2) to return and contribute to U.S. foreign policy and U.S.
interaction. Our own IETF force member, and head of committee # 1 (whose purpose is to promote recognition of all Fulbright Programs including K-12 teachers, teaching assistants, associate degrees and four year colleges, as well as graduate colleges and corporations), Dr. Gerald Siegel, squeezed in his presentation, not in our task force time slot, but before lunch on Friday, Oct. 8.
Dr. Siegel is currently on Fulbright in Macedonia. The theme of his presentation was “The American Dream.” The topic initially came about as a response to 9/11, and evolved into student concerns and a re-examination of being “American” and the “American Dream.” Dr. Siegel’s approach was used with American college students, but would be useful with secondary school age students as well. This year in Macedonia, it will be interesting for him to follow up with international students. These students can examine their version of the “American “ dream or their views of their own national dreams and values using interviews with classmates, friends, and people from their country and/or other countries, cultures, and generations. There was not sufficient time for any explanation of the curriculum and methodology suggestions. It was a very short, succinct, and tantalizing talk. Discussion and questions took place during and after
lunch!
Since there was no time available for a business meeting, there was only an opportunity to pass around a sign up sheet, explaining the three committees, their goals, their chairpersons and advisors, as well as to indicate a committee, if interested, and a reminder to send their $5.00 administrative token into the home Fulbright Association Office in Washington, D.C. For the benefit of the 52 people, who signed the sheets that were passed around during the session, and indicated interest in one of the committees: (1) to promote recognition of all Fulbright Programs including K-12, teacher exchanges, teaching assistants, community and four year colleges and
universities, as well as graduate colleges and corporations; (2) to plan the IETF Annual Fulbright Association Conference program; (3) to promote interaction and collaboration with the Fulbright Commission programs worldwide. The chairs hope to get the annual revised committees set up as soon as possible. Individuals will be contacted via e-mail by the various heads of the three committees. There will be another newsletter before the end of the year. We would like to thank Marshall Ellis and all at the “home” office in Washington, D.C. for their support in compiling the list of task force members and mailing out the newsletters.
It is our hope that the three task forces: (The International Education T.F. – Dr. Jenny Johnson jjohnson@polaris.umuc.edu and Jenise Englund jeniseenglund@yahoo.com; The Arts T.F. Elmer Craig efcraig@bellsouth.net; and The Science and Environment T.F. Dr. Patti Freeland pfre2500@postoffice.uri.edu) can work together on an extended and blended task forces’ time shot during the 2005 Fulbright Conference.
Dear Arts Task Force members,
I’m now in the slow process of recovering from the usual jet lag that accompanies crossing multiple times zones, my body being somewhere between Athens and Miami, but even that cannot dim the shine of a wonderful pair of conferences. The 27th Annual Fulbright Conference “Celebrating the Fulbright Ethos” was held on October 7 and 8 and it was followed by the Fulbright Scholar’s International Interdisciplinary Conference “Olympism and the Fulbright Spirit: Humanism in Action” on October 8 through 10. The conference hotel, The Royal Olympic, was within walking distance of the “Plaka”, the “old section” of the city (how do you differentiate from “old” and “ancient” — in Miami, 1930 is “old”), and it was easy to find great restaurants, local color — and the Acropolis, as well as other museums in the nearby area.
The Arts Task Force session was a success, even though the usual glitches that accompany presentations via the computer slowed things to begin with, and Gene Berryhill, Patricia Brock, Laura Crow, Jere Humphreys and Terese Sarno had their work well received. I thank them for their efforts and I thank the people who attended the session for helping to make it all a huge success.
I encourage you all to be in touch with me about issues you’d like to have the ATF encounter during the year. Since this 2004 conference was so distant and the travel expenses considerable, some members who couldn’t attend, but were interested in presenting, have already asked for places on the agenda for the 2005 conference in Washington DC. If you’re also interested in presenting, I would ask that you to be in touch with me ASAP so that I can begin working on that list — even though it is early it will help me get it all in place before the last minute. I’m wondering if we should also schedule a Business Meeting so that we can address ideas that people are wanting to put in place. Any response to that idea? Let me know so that I can get it on the agenda.
I hope that you are all being active, creative and productive in your artistic and personal lives, please be in touch with me and let me know how and what you’re doing.
Yours,
Elmer Craig
Chair, Arts Task Force