Fulbright recipients recognized at dinner
Nearly 100 current and former Fulbright fellows were honored Nov. 29 as the Graduate School celebrated the campus’s longtime participation in the international academic exchange program.
John Mullin, dean of the Graduate School, cited the significant role the Fulbright program has played in enhancing scholarship and promoting international understanding and cooperation. “The university takes pride in celebrating and strengthening its community of Fulbrighters who have continued to shape the world—advancing global understanding and knowledge to academia and the professional world.”
According to Mullin, a senior Fulbright specialist in Portugal in 1985-86, such initiatives provide opportunities for the campus to maintain a competitive edge in attracting quality students, establishing connections with international alumni and keeping pace with peer institutions.
The event in the Campus Center Auditorium drew about 130 guests, including 65 faculty Fulbright recipients and 24 graduate students from other nations who are studying at UMass Amherst through Fulbright awards. The graduate students hail from more than two dozen countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Malawi, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Syria, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
The featured speaker, Tony Claudino, director of Fulbright Student Program Outreach at the Institute of International Education in New York, emphasized the need for universities to adopt an international focus to help educate their students for global citizenship and better serve the national and international communities.
Claudino said the Fulbright program offers a forum through which students and scholars from different cultures and societies can bring a little more knowledge and reason to the tasks of maintaining peace and advancing freedom and democracy.
Organizers of the event hope to make it an annual celebration, according to Nigar Khan, associate dean of the Graduate School, who cited the positive comments received from many of the faculty who attended the dinner.
“It was really quite stimulating to gather together with other Fulbrighters and discuss the experiences we have been so fortunate to have,” said Communication professor Donal Carbaugh, a two-time Fulbright award recipient. “I think the event was a resounding success and hope it can be continued annually.”
Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Since its inception, about 267,500 students, scholars, educators and professionals from the U.S. and other countries have participated in the exchange.
According to the Graduate School, more than 75 current and former faculty members have been awarded Fulbrights since 1965.
Photos: Heather Anderson
December 5, 2006.
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