The Fulbright Association has 55 local chapters in 39 states across the U.S. that are led and managed by volunteer alumni who reside in the area. Chapters provide Fulbright alumni and visiting Fulbrighters with diverse opportunities for networking, professional development, mentoring, cultural enrichment, and community service. The Chapter of the Month series allows the Fulbright community to recognize the great work that these chapters are doing.
This month, we are highlighting the Hawaii Chapter!
Answers provided by members of the Hawaii Chapter Board of Directors.
Your chapter has been doing great work! Can you share what’s been going on?
During the month of July, the Hawaii Chapter partnered with the Thailand-U.S. Educational Foundation (TUSEF, better known as “Fulbright Thailand”) and the East-West Center, a federally-sponsored education and research organization, to organize a pre-departure orientation for the 2024 Fulbright-Hays Seminars Program to Thailand. The program took a group of 16 U.S. teachers, curriculum specialists, librarians, media resource specialists, and administrators for a 4-week program entitled “Transformational Thailand: Toward a Sustainable and Inclusive Economy and Society.” Hawaii was an ideal gathering place for the educators coming from all over the continent and Puerto Rico, and chapter alumni organized presentations by EWC experts on Thai history, culture and society, its regional importance, and the history of U.S.-Thai relations.
Following the Dr. William “Bill” Chapman, Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM) and a former Fulbright Scholar to Thailand, led the group on a visit to the State Capitol and a tour of the historic ‘Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on U.S. soil that was built in 1882 by King David Kalākaua and home of Hawaii’s last reigning monarchs.
Who are some stand out members of the chapter? How do they contribute to the Hawaii alumni community?
Dr. Tetine Sentell, a Fulbright Specialist alumni to Albania, was named the inaugural Chin Sik and Hyun Sook Chung Endowed Chair in Public Health Studies at University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM). Tetine has published more than 120 papers and led projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Her work has earned her the UH Board of Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching, and she has served as an expert for the World Health Organization. Her excellent scholarship, advocacy and dedication to addressing health inequalities make her the ideal candidate for this new endowed chair.
Dr. Anna Stirr, Director of the Center for South Asian Studies at UHM and a Fulbright Scholar to Nepal, was named this year’s recipient of the Khalibhakta Pant Memorial Foundation’s Khalibhakta Pant International Prize in Nepali Folklore. She is the first non-Nepali to be awarded this prize and joins several emeritus professors and famous singers in receiving this honor. With her Ph.D. on Nepali folk song / folk dohori, through her study, research, and publications on Nepali folklore and culture, Anna has made up-to-date contributions to the international dissemination and promotion of this folklore and culture.
Lastly, our Chapter President, Dr. Carlos Juárez, was selected as a new Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador for 2024-2026. Carlos has been a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico, Austria, and India, and is a professor emeritus of political science at Hawaii Pacific University. In 2021, he joined the East-West Center in Honolulu, which shares a mission very similar to the Fulbright Program with a mission to promote better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the U.S., Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. As a new Fulbright Ambassador, he will help to support the IIE and U.S. Department of State to expand outreach to the higher education community for Fulbright program opportunities.
What advice would you give to other chapters?
As a small and relatively isolated chapter, there is a continual need to identity and cultivate new potential board members. Two strategies that can help include (i) reaching out to engage recent grantees who may not yet be members (or even know there is a chapter!), including scholars and graduate students, and asking them to share their experience in some way through a presentation or workshop, and (ii) research the Fulbright Alumni Directory to find new alumni in the area that have not yet connected to the chapter as it is an opportunity to reengage them and connect the with their new Fulbright community.
We have also found it vital to partner with other local organizations to co-sponsor events as it helps to connect like-minded people who share an appreciation for cultural and educational exchange. This might include local world affairs councils, think tanks, or local community organizations, and is a valuable chance to open a conversation about the Fulbright program to other community members.
Do you have any upcoming programming for members to participate in?
The chapter has two upcoming fall events for members to participate in. On November 16, we will host a reception for chapter members to meet the new visiting Fulbright grantees in Hawaii, which includes three visiting Fulbright scholars and seven new Fulbright foreign students from Cambodia, Canada, East Timor, Fiji, Germany, Hungary, and Japan, among others. The event will be held at the East-West Center’s Art Gallery and is co-sponsored with the EWC and Consular Corps of Hawaii, bringing together chapter alumni and the local academic and diplomatic community to welcome the new grantees.
We will also co-sponsoring a program to host a Visiting Fulbright Scholar from Sri Lanka in late November as part of the Fulbright Occasional Lecturer (OLF) Program, Dr. W. Mahavadina Gunaratne, an expert on international security currently conducting research as visiting Fulbright Scholar at Stetson University College of Law in Florida. His visit will include a panel presentation at Hawaii Pacific University by Chapter alumni to share their Fulbright experiences and help promote Fulbright opportunities for faculty, staff and students.
