Fulbright Association

Last updated
Fulbright Association
FormationFebruary 27, 1977;47 years ago (1977-02-27) [1]
Type NGO
Legal statusfoundation
Headquarters1730 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington DC, 20036
Membership
~10,000
Website www.fulbright.org

The Fulbright Association is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose members are Fulbright Program alumni and friends of international education. Established on February 27, 1977, the association supports and promotes international educational and cultural exchange and the ideal most associated with the Fulbright name—mutual understanding among the peoples of the world.

Contents

Brief history

The Fulbright Association engages current and former Fulbright exchange participants in lifelong experiences that advance international understanding through volunteer service to communities, people-to-people diplomacy, and dialogue on global issues. Fulbright Association members form the active constituency for Fulbright exchanges to ensure that they continue to benefit future generations.

The association has led to the development of similar membership associations across the globe. The U.S. Fulbright Association's interest and ability to further a global network of Fulbright alumni associations was formally recognized in 1983 by the executive directors of Fulbright Commissions in Europe and Israel in the following resolution: "We recognize that the experience and support of former Fulbrighters can help to maintain the high quality of the Fulbright Program in the future; we shall assist the formation and activities of Fulbright alumni within our respective countries; and we shall encourage their cooperation with the Fulbright Alumni Association of the United States of America." [2] The Fulbright Association also conducts outreach in local communities and classrooms in the U.S., and hosts an annual conference.

Programs

The Fulbright Prize for International Understanding

The J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, established in 1993, is awarded by the Fulbright Association to recognize individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward bringing peoples, cultures, or nations to greater understanding of others. To communicate the importance of the Fulbright Program, the association developed three signature events. In October 1993, the association awarded the inaugural prize to former South African President Nelson R. Mandela in a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. The Fulbright Association has selected as Fulbright Prize laureates four world leaders—Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and Martti Ahtisaari—before they were named Nobel Peace Prize laureates. [3] The Coca-Cola Foundation co-sponsored the Fulbright Prize from 1993-2008 and contributed to the Prize Endowment initiative begun under the chairmanship of the late John B. Hurford, Fulbright scholar to India. In 1993, the Fulbright Association also held the first special event benefit in its history, an 88th Birthday Tribute to Senator Fulbright. The benefit involved President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in paying tribute to Senator Fulbright through the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

PersonYearCountry
Nelson Mandela 1993Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg  South Africa
Jimmy Carter 1994Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Franz Vranitzky 1995Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Corazon Aquino 1996Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines
Václav Havel 1997Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Patricio Aylwin 1998Flag of Chile.svg  Chile
Mary Robinson 1999Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
Martti Ahtisaari 2000Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Kofi Annan 2001Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana
Sadako Ogata 2002Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
Fernando Henrique Cardoso 2003Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
Colin Powell 2004Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bill Clinton 2006Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Desmond Tutu 2008Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates 2010Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Médecins Sans Frontières 2012Flag of France.svg  France
Hans Blix 2014Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Richard Lugar 2016Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Angela Merkel 2018Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Bono 2021Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
Kizzmekia Corbett and Anthony Fauci 2022Flag of the United States.svg  United States

Lifetime Achievement Award

The first Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medals were awarded in 2000 to Fulbright alumni Arlene Alda, [4] Barbara Knowles Debs, and Richard A. Debs. The Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal honors Fulbright alumni whose distinguished careers and civic and cultural contributions seek to expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception. Recipients of the Medal show exemplary commitments to creative leadership and liberal education.

Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund Lecture

The Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund Lecture for International Scholarship on Dance was created through a generous bequest by the late dance scholar and historian Dr. Selma Jeanne Cohen, who was a Fulbright scholar in Russia in 1976. [5] The Fulbright Association administers the endowed Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund lecture, a presentation at the association's annual conference about previously unpublished research in dance history or other areas of dance scholarship. With annual funding for the past 15 years from the U. S. Department of State, the association has awarded funds to chapters to provide more than 150 local enrichment events and activities annually for Fulbright visiting students, teachers and scholars from abroad. These funds have also supported chapter mentoring and Fulbright Program outreach efforts. In 2004, the Fulbright Association responded to requests of international alumni to hold annual conferences outside the United States.

Annual conference

The association holds its annual conference abroad in even years and in the United States in odd years. International conferences have been held in Athens (2004), Morocco (2006), Beijing (2008), Buenos Aires (2010), London (2012) and Puebla, Mexico (2018). Subsequent pandemic-era meetings were held virtually, in 2020 and 2021. In-person meetings were resumed in Bethesda MD (2022). The next meeting will be held in Denver, Colorado.

Membership

The Fulbright Association currently has approximately 10,000 individual members. About one-third of these are life members. To facilitate interaction and discussion on global issues, the association has launched an online community for Fulbright alumni and has increased the functionality of that network with a redesigned web site. Approximately 230 institutional members support the Fulbright Association. These include colleges, universities, and international educational organizations throughout the country. Our 50 local chapter affiliates hold programs for visiting Fulbrighters and alumni throughout the country. The Fulbright Association connects to 70 independent Fulbright Associations in other countries.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Academy</span> National academy of humanities and social sciences

The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences and a funding body for research projects across the United Kingdom. The academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London.

The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Via the program, competitively-selected American citizens including students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists, and artists may receive scholarships or grants to study, conduct research, teach, or exercise their talents abroad; and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Scholarship</span> Postgraduate scholarship

The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans [and] their country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious scholarships for U.S. citizens, and along with the Fulbright Scholarship, it is the only broadly available scholarship available to Americans to study at any university in the United Kingdom.

The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11–18. Graduates of the school achieve employment with leading ballet companies worldwide, and in the United States with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet.

Charles Frankel was an American philosopher, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State, professor and founding director of the National Humanities Center.

Selma Jeanne Cohen was a historian, teacher, author, and editor who devoted her career to advocating dance as an art worthy of the same scholarly respect traditionally awarded to painting, music, and literature. She was the founding editor of the six-volume International Encyclopedia of Dance, completed in 1998.

Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) was a professional organization for dance historians in the United States and worldwide that was founded in 1964 and then merged in 2017 with the Society of Dance History Scholars to form the Dance Studies Association (DSA).

The Society of Dance History Scholars (SDHS) was a professional organization for dance historians in the United States and internationally. Founded in 1978, it became a non-profit in 1983. SDHS became a member of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1996, hosted an annual conference, published conference proceedings and a book series, and presented awards to new and established scholars. In 2017 it merged with the Congress on Research in Dance to form the Dance Studies Association (DSA).

The Selma Jeanne Cohen Award is a writing award offered by the Dance Studies Association (DSA) for the best graduate student paper submission to the annual conference. Prior to the DSA's foundation in 2017, the award was sponsored by the Society of Dance History Scholars. The award was established in 1995 to honor Selma Jeanne Cohen's contributions to the field of dance history, and to encourage and recognize exemplary scholarship among students researching dance. The award includes a travel grant and registration fee waiver for the annual conference.

The Fulbright Academy, also known as the Fulbright Academy of Science & Technology, was an international non-profit organization established by alumni of the Fulbright Exchange Program and others interested in science and technology innovation. It operated from 2002-2013, and Eric S. Howard served as its executive director. At the end of 2013, it merged with the Fulbright Association.

The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understanding through advocacy, intellectual engagement, and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners." CAA currently has individual members across the United States and internationally; and institutional members, such as libraries, academic departments, and museums located in the United States. The organization's programs, standards and guidelines, advocacy, intellectual engagement, and commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners, align with its broad and diverse membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Fulbright Commission</span>

The US-UK Fulbright Commission was created by a treaty signed by the United Kingdom and the United States on 22 September, 1948. It is a non-profit organisation based in London and UK.

Ambassadorial Scholarships was a program of the Rotary Foundation. The program ended in 2013 and was replaced by the Rotary Global Grant Scholarship, which expands on the Ambassadorial mission, by now ensuring that every Rotary Scholar advance Rotary's International mission to " promote service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace.".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jürgen Mulert</span>

Jürgen Mulert was an economist, Fulbright Scholar, and Acting Director General of the German-American Fulbright Program.

The Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States of America, Belgium, and Luxembourg is located in Brussels, Belgium, with the office situated at the Royal Library Albert I. It is a not-for profit organization that is responsible for administering Fulbright grants for citizens of Belgium and Luxembourg. It also serves as the EducationUSA Advising Center in Belgium.

The Fulbright Commission in Iceland is an inter-governmental organization that administers the Fulbright Program in Iceland by offering Fulbright grants to students and scholars. It is located in the center of Iceland's capital, Reykjavík. The Commission also administers nominations for the Frank Boas Scholarship for International Legal Studies at the Harvard Law School and the Cobb Family Fellowship for Icelandic citizens. The Commission also serves as the only Education USA advising center in Iceland, providing impartial advice on U.S. education opportunities.

Judith Chazin-Bennahum is a ballet dancer, choreographer, dance historian, writer, and educator. A leader in the field of dance scholarship, she spent her academic career at the University of New Mexico, where she now holds the title of Distinguished Professor Emerita of Dance.

George Dorris is an American dance historian, educator, editor, and writer. As managing editor of Dance Chronicle for thirty years, he laid foundations and established standards for dance scholarship not only in the United States but in many other countries of the world. In 2007, he was honored with a lifetime membership in the Society of Dance History Scholars and by the award for Outstanding Service to Dance Research presented by the Congress on Research in Dance.

Sathasivan "Saths" Cooper is a clinical psychologist in South Africa who was born in Durban of Indian-South African background. He began to identify with the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and joined the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), and was one of the so-called "SASO Nine" student leaders arrested in 1974 for their anti-Apartheid activities. During this time Saths spent nine years banned, house arrested and jailed, including over five years in Robben Island where he shared a cell block with Nelson Mandela.

The DAAD Alumni Association USA is a private, nonprofit organization whose members are German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) alumni and friends of international education. The association supports and promotes international educational and cultural exchange and the ideal most associated with mutual understanding among the peoples of the world. The DAAD Alumni Association USA also conducts receptions in local communities in the U.S., and helps to host the annual Sound Understanding Concert at Carnegie Hall.

References

  1. "About the Fulbright Association". Fulbright Association. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  2. "History of the Fulbright Association". Fulbright Association. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  3. "President Carter Receives Second Annual Fulbright Prize". cartercenter.org. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  4. "Arlene Alda Captures In Book 'Last Days Of MASH'". Herald-Journal . 24 June 1984. p. 19. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  5. "Fulbright Association - Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund for International Scholarship on Dance". Duke University. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.