Fulbright Western Hemisphere Meeting
0pening Ceremony
Punta del Este - Uruguay
December 8, 2003
| Welcoming remarks |
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National Director of Education and Culture, Prof. Agustín Courtoisie |
| Deputy Director, WHA/PDA, Bernard F. Shinkman |
| Message from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Boardo: Policies and Directions |
| FSB member Rita DiMartino |
Welcoming Remarks by Chargé d'Affaires a.i.
U.S. Embassy Uruguay
It is a pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the United States Embassy, and U.S. Ambassador Martin J. Silverstein, who is in Washington attending a conference, to this weeklong Fulbright Western Hemisphere conference. I am glad to see so many of my colleagues from around this hemisphere gathered here. I have had the honor and privilege of living in Uruguay for well over a year and I think it is highly appropriate that a conference devoted to one of the most important international educational exchanges should take place here.
It is highly appropriate for many reasons. One reason is of course we all remember our own childhood educations, sadly looking out the window on a glorious spring day, waiting anxiously for the school bell to ring so we could run out and play. To enable you to relive those innocent days of yore the Uruguayan Fulbright Commission has arranged to place you in one of the premier hotels in the premier resort city in South America at the beginning of the splendid Uruguayan summer. And yes, there will be no running out and playing until your workshops are over each day. Our Fulbright Commission has, however, thoughtfully insured that there are no windows in your meeting rooms so you can keep your mind on your work.
On a more serious note, Uruguay’s long devotion to education makes this country a very appropriate venue for a Fulbright conference. Under the direction of educational reformers such as José Pedro Varela Uruguay became one of the pioneers of universal, free, compulsory primary education. The 1877 Law of Common education provided for a national system of education. These reforms were preceded by the founding of the University of the Republic in 1849, which for a time was responsible for all education in the country. Over the last 150 years Uruguay has remain committed to offering a quality education to all its citizens. The result is a country that consistently maintains the highest literacy and educational rates not only in Latin America but the world. According to the 2000 UNESCO World Report on Education, Uruguay had one of the highest literacy rates in the world and the highest secondary schooling rate in Latin America: 50% over the hemispheric average.
Uruguay’s devotion to education is reflected in its devotion to democracy. The two are closely related. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence said “There is but one method of rendering a republican form of government durable, and that is by disseminating the seeds of virtue and knowledge through every part of the state by means of proper places and modes of education.” Through the course of its political history Uruguay always returns to the form of government best suited for an educated and free people.
The history of the Fulbright scholarships is well known. In the aftermath of World War Two Senator J. William Fulbright conceived of the idea of an international scholarship program that would support the understanding and knowledge necessary to avoid such devastating conflicts. The Fulbright program has become the tool that makes that vision a reality. In the over fifty years since it began some quarter of a million students and teachers from around the world have taken part in Fulbright programs. In any country where there is a Fulbright program you can take a look at the roster of political, business, cultural and academic leaders and you will find a great number of Fulbright scholars. In Uruguay that list includes such names as Arquitecto Carlos Ott, designer of the Punta del Este airport, among other buildings, Eva Fogel of the Academia Nacional de Medicina, Ricardo Pascale, President of the Banco Central, the artist Virginia Patrone, the poet Marosa Di Giorgio, and of course the Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mr. Diddier Operti.
I am glad today to see representation from among American diplomats, foreign national employees of American missions and educational directors of Fulbright Commissions throughout this hemisphere, in addition to our distinguished Uruguayan guests. It reminds us that the Fulbright program is a partnership between the United States and many nations. It depends for its success on the hard work and commitment of people who build a bridge from both banks of the river. And across that bridge pass thousands of scholars, Americans heading one way to learn more about the outside world and impart a bit of American knowledge and their counterparts headed to the United States to learn and act as academic ambassadors from their countries to the United States.
In this interdependent, globalized world the bridges you build becomes more important every day. The challenges that face this planet, political, economic, social and environmental, can only be solved by pooling our collective talents. Despite what some might think and write America is well aware that it can’t go it alone, it needs partners in this world. The rising leaders who are selected for the Fulbright program establish relationships with their counterparts that will form the foundation of successful and mutually beneficial partnerships in the years ahead.
We also need to simply understand each other better. This is true of Americans who often have an imperfect understanding of the world. This may even be truer of how the rest world views Americans and the United States. While movies are an important American industry, they are intended to be entertainment not documentaries. Foreign viewers of American films may not realize that I, as an average American, do not get up in the morning, jump into a flashy convertible equipped with a flashy blond, get into a shootout with the bad guys and save the world all before breakfast. I am the Deputy Chief of Mission of an American Embassy. I have an assistant that does that for me. I get to clear on the cable. The Fulbright program exposes the best and brightest of the world to how America really works and what Americans really are like as versus the fantasies of Hollywood.
The work you do will be of lasting importance and I am glad that we have the opportunity to support that work by hosting this conference in Uruguay. I am sure that working in such a literate country that shares so many values with the United States will be an added inspiration. May I also suggest that between workshops and training you discover why so many people come to Punta del Este. It is a fun city out there. And for those too exhausted to venture outside, you will find it a fun hotel inside. Good luck with the conference and keep up the good work.
Welcoming Remarks by the Governor of Maldonado
Good morning, I am Enrique Antía, I am the Governor of Maldonado and on behalf of my people I wish to extend a warm welcome to you. I’m confident that this kind of meeting will strengthen ties between our two countries. My state, Maldonado, has a population of 150,000 inhabitants and every summer receives 500,000 tourists with warmth and dedication. This is the starting point to get to know each other; as long as people get to know each other, countries will become closer and we will be able to do projects together, there’s no doubt about it. I welcome all representatives and all officials from the US Embassy and all members of the Fulbright Commission of our fellow countries, and I want to say that, on behalf of our people, this is your home and since there are no windows here, I will ask the organizers of this conference to open the door so that you will find out how friendly our people are, and you will remember our people with love. Enjoy your stay and I wish you a productive conference.
Welcoming Remarks by National Director of Education and Culture
On behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay I would like to express our satisfaction for the opening of the Western Hemisphere Fulbright Conference.
The Fulbright Program in Uruguay has allowed numerous Uruguayan professionals, researchers and teachers to carry out masters degrees, doctorates and traineeships at the best education centres in the United States. At the same time, the program permits U.S. citizens to conduct research in Uruguay.
However we would be committing an injustice if we narrowed the vision of the program to limiting concepts such as “cultural exchange” or “educational exchange” in reference to an activity whose impact exceed the academic dimension.
It is true that academic achievements are important and that this meeting enables relevant facts to be recalled. For example that grantees study a variety of disciplines, within the Humanities or within the Social or Physical Sciences. It is also true that the activities organized by Fulbright include a program for directors of Uruguayan schools, which enables them to live in U.S for three weeks to learn and share experiences with their American colleagues. This is extremely important, but it cannot be restricted to a concept of “exchange” or “grant” or to the neutral law term “agreement”.
The core of the Fulbright program, which brings us here today, and fills us with immense satisfaction is the search to preserve certain values common to our cultures, that cannot be protected merely by rational communication. It is the vital experience of people that benefit from the program, that allows these shared set of values to be preserved, strengthening the bonding between our people. Mistrust, or the conflict between people on the surface of the Earth, is not defeated only with reasoning, rather it requires an emotional expression. This experience is revealed in the account of the person that returns to their country, which multiplies the possibility of future partnerships and sustainable friendships.
I ask for permission to utilize expressions of U.S Ambassador in Colombia, Ms Anne Patterson in February this year, which taking into account our differences as countries, are applicable to Uruguay.
In the first place, in her speech she stated:
“Decision-makers must also understand how actions will be seen by a divers range of historical and cultural perspectives. In this era of policy for the masses, foreign ministers and public opinion must know how to interpret these policies. If we do not build a common place of understanding and good will, each action taken will be viewed with mistrust and suspicion ”.
I read other paragraphs:
“Throughout the world, countries are discovering the need to develop an understanding not only between the governments but also between the people. As time passes, the need for an understanding becomes more urgent and more global. Today, to mention a couple examples, Iranians have opened centres of Islamic Studies across the world, Cubans send their artists and their doctors abroad, and Chinese fund translations of their literature. It is important to know how to listen, even if we do not agree, and learn from one another”.
The importance of a mutual understanding, rational as well as emotional and expressive, arises when we consider the relationship between the U.S and the Hispanic world. That is why Pattern expresses:
“The United Status is transforming more and more into a Hispanic nation. The census of 2000 reveals that the Hispanic population is the group of largest growth (...) Also Hispanics have become the largest minority group in the United Status”.
What role can Uruguay play in this relationship of the U.S with the Hispanic world? We are certain that our role is significant and that it will contribute elements to an increased understanding of both worlds.
That is why I consider convenient to quote two more paragraphs by Ambassador Patterson. One of them refers to the mass communication media and the other to the fear of cultures coming into contact. In the first place, it would seem as if Latin American and the American mass communication media clash, but they reflect separate worlds. And mass communication media…..
“...Are powerful messengers across the continent. They and other media carry large quantities of information but do they carry knowledge?”
Certainly, mass communication media convey data, information but they do not always transport knowledge. This is a good question prompted by the Ambassador, and Uruguay can provide its own answer to this question, which joined to answers by others will prove enlightening.
As for the fear of culture coming into contact, the reflections of the Ambassador are shared by many. Making reference specifically to the Fulbright Programs, Ambassador Patterson expressed:
“It is true that these programs have been criticized. Reactionary right-wing and left-wing voices from both countries state that increasing understanding that we promote will end in a cultural contamination. That our values in some form would be better if we remained isolated. I completely resist this notion. What kind of individual wishes to remain poor? Who wants to be ignorant? Who desires to be a slave? There are numerous forms of expressing our values, and perhaps we disagree on how to achieve them, but the only truthful values are universal. For this reason, I dare state that even if different cultures exist, values are universal”.
This statement deserves a comment. We believe in cultural diversity, we believe in the colors, expressions and specific traditions that each country or region has to contribute to the world. We do not like uniformity. However in order not to fall in an exaggerated cultural relativism, I must recall that that respect for cultural diversity or tolerance is also a universal value in itself. Nations could not agree upon cultural diversity if they did not share, beyond some of their differences, certain moral values. The respect for cultural diversity is not unlimited because it must applied within the frame of the Human Rights. That is its limit.
Another fundamental reflection to oppose the fear if “cultural contamination” is that our countries, our educational and cultural institutions, have a double commitment. This commitment is expressed on the one hand, in the duty to preserve traditional identities, historical identities, “cristallized” identities. But on the other hand, in the duty to safeguard dynamic identities, identities that are being formed, permanent creative processes that develop across the history of mankind. This is so evident, that is difficult to understand why people forget that no culture appeared from nowhere.
No culture appeared from nowhere, its attributes are determined through an evolutionary process. Every culture was seeded from different contributions. That is, every traditional culture at some instance must have been a dynamic culture. That is why we must preserve and promote the two types of identities: traditional identities and dynamic identities. Isn’t it obvious that exchange systems like Fulbright support the understanding and the development of both types of identities?
To end, let us say that in order to seek definite ways to preserve our common values is why we are here today, at the Western Hemisphere Fulbright Conference. The Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay believes that it would be excellent to find ways to continue and even deepen the path which is apparently only academic but involves emotional and existential experiences. Maybe Uruguayans have a distorted image of Americans and Americans of Uruguayans. But culture and education creates bridges and allow each person benefiting from the Fulbright experience to communicate less stereotyped or simplified images of our people, defending those common values that deserve our greatest efforts, values settled in our peoples and that extend to all our governments.
Notes
In the morning of December 8, I improvised a speech based on these remarks before an attentive audience. If the reader was present at the opening, he will note a lack of flavor similar to reading musical notes or a theatre text, without watching the performance.
The speech by Ambassador Anne W. Patterson was given at Organización Cultural y Social de la Justicia Contencioso Administrativa, Apoyemos, in Bogotá, Februaryy 2003. The complete text can be found at the Internet: http://usembassy.state.gov/colombia (in Spanish)
Welcoming Remarks by Public Affairs Officer Uruguay
Good morning, speaking as both the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Uruguay and the President of the local Fulbright Commission, it is great to see so many colleagues here today both from our various missions and commissions around the hemisphere, and from the State Department in Washington. It is also an honor to have our distinguished Uruguayan guests with us today.
I arrived in Uruguay only four months ago and so I can’t call myself an expert on everything Uruguayan yet. However, I have seen enough to know that we have an outstanding Fulbright Commission, with a wonderful board, and strong leadership from Mercedes Jimenez de Arechaga , the Fulbright director. In this short time they have impressed me with their energy, their initiative and their professionalism. The fact that we are all here today is due in large part to the work of Mercedes and her staff.
Here in Uruguay the Fulbright program is having a major impact, as I am sure it is having in your own countries. Due to our Commission’s marketing campaign we have survey results that show the perception of Uruguayans about our program has changed. Results over the last two years show that people in Uruguay consider the prestige and the image of the Fulbright program a very important asset of a Fulbright grant and that they consider the Fulbright grant one of the most important academic awards in the world. This is a positive change from previous surveys results which showed that people looked at Fulbright more as simply a way of getting money to study in the USA, and that they did not consider the program to be that prestigious. The marketing campaign has successfully communicated to the Uruguayan people a more realistic view of what Fulbright means. It increases the program’s chances of recruiting the best talent in the country along with multiplier effects.
I will also mention two exciting innovations that the Fulbright Commission here has introduced that will be of great benefit to both Uruguay and the United States. The first is the Uruguayan Research Program. This year Fulbright selected three grantees for this program: two in Medicine and one in Communications. This is the only Fulbright program that supports Uruguay in the vital area of medical research.
The other important innovation was the establishment of the U.S. Teacher Exchange Program. Uruguay welcomed 7 U.S. teachers from all over the United States. For two months they visited Uruguayan schools, stayed with Uruguayan families, and talked to high-ranking Uruguayan educational officials. They learned much and they explained to their Uruguayan counterparts how the educational process worked in the United States. This amazing program not only shared knowledge but established friendships. As one U.S. teacher wrote: ”I estimate the 7 of us touched about 10,000 lives here in Uruguay, putting a personal face on the term “American.” When people talk of improving America’s image, when they talk of cost-effectiveness, I hope you remember that quote.
The creativity shown by the Uruguayan Fulbright Commission would be appreciated by its namesake, Senator William Fulbright, who called for “A modest program with an immodest goal." And you will please excuse me immodestly singing the praises of the Uruguayan Commission but I think they deserve it.
I do know that any one of you, any PAO, any CAO, any director, could stand up here today and sing the praises of their own program. It is the nature of Fulbright to attract bright, talented, dedicated people. It is also a fact that Fulbright has to depend more on creativity than great wads of cash, certainly compared to other programs sponsored by the U.S. government, many of which come complete with neat toys that look good in photo-ops. There is enough creative juice in this room to overcome whatever budget limitations there are to insure that Fulbright continues to get the most intellectual bang for the buck.
That is our goal this week. To share our enthusiasm and experience. To learn from each other and from our Washington colleagues. It has been said many times today and will be said many times more during the conference, we need the Fulbright program more than ever today. At the end of this week we will be better prepared to address the challenges of Fulbright in the 21st century. So welcome to Uruguay and I look forward to seeing you in the various workshops this week.
Welcoming remarks from Deputy Director WHA/PDA,
Bernard F. Shinkman
If you will all forgive me, I think I am going to stand because I figure that we will be seating for a long time this week and it might be a good opportunity to stretch my legs. To those of you in the room who speak Spanish, I don’t. I apologize in advance if my words are exactly the same as those that were delivered by distinguished panel members before I spoke but I suspect there will be some differences, so I ask your indulgence.
I want to ask you to please wear your badges all week. It is easy to start taking them off at the end of the first day but they are enormously helpful to me. Many of you know each other but I suspect many of the rest of us don’t know all of you well and it really is helpful to have your badges on. I bring you greetings from Bill Buck who is the office Director in the office in which I work, the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs for the Western Hemisphere. He regrets of course that he cannot be here. I am not so regretful that he cannot be here because it means I can be here and I am delighted to be here, and our office is delighted to be able to provide the funds to make this conference possible. I think it is an extraordinarily valuable experience for everybody here.
Those of you who were in Fort Lauderdale last year heard my remarks that my connection to the Fulbright program actually goes back to my very young childhood. My father was briefly in the Foreign Service and he was the Attaché for Press and Culture in Vienna, Austria in charge of the Fulbright Program there and he was a great admirer of the senators. We took the Fulbright teachers and professors there very much in the heart and they became close friends of the family, I remember growing up as a child having Fulbrighters around. I really did not know what the word meant, but I knew they were wonderful people and we continued that connection and affection certainly during all my professional life.
I want to talk a bit about the connection about the Fulbright Program and American Foreign Policy, a bit about the role of education in current administration policy. A little bit about how we can tie it all together because I think it is important that it all be tied together. The Americas are critically important to the future of the United States. All of our vital national interests are in play in this region: security, trade and the growth of democracy, being the three the most important of the foreign policy in the. western hemisphere. The region, however, is going through trouble times and our success in taking the next step depends on our ability to make the benefits of mutual security, open trade and stronger democratic institutions available to everyone in the region. We must, in short, invest in people. And one key investment we must make is in education. President Bush believes that education is the foundation for creating economic growth, social advancement and democratic progress and thus plays a key role in achieving our policy goals in the region. There are two areas that are troubling in a largely positive picture. One is the relatively low number of U.S. students studying abroad, only about 150,000 out of a total of 15 million students. This compares unfavorably to the nearly 600,000 foreign students who come to the U.S. to study. We must find ways to encourage more study abroad for Americans.
The other area of concern relates to the competing demands of ensuring homeland security and continued access to our higher education system. After all, foreign students spend 13 billion dollars annually in the U.S. and support 150,000 U.S. jobs. We are serious about finding the right balance on this issue and I suspect it will come up regularly over the course of the week, trying to marry security concerns of the United States and every country with the importance of getting the right people through the borders and getting them their visas. As you all know President Bush will meet with other hemisphere leaders in Monterrey next month in a special Summit of the Americas. A prominent agenda item for the Summit is the goal of strengthening our investment in education. International education places central role in achieving American foreign policy goals in the hemisphere.
On the occasion of the launch of International Education Week 2003 recently Secretary of State Powell noted we are all students of the world we live in and today our world is more interdependent than ever before. The challenges we face cannot be addressed by any country acting alone. International education promotes the free exchange of ideas, allows us to see joint solutions to problems and helps create lasting partnerships to meet our shared concerns. Through educational exchanges the Department of State works to deepen understanding and strengthen voices of moderation around the world. This belief in the value of international education has been shared by all Secretaries of State going back to the inauguration of the Department’s sponsorship of exchanges in the 1940’s. The Fulbright program launched in 1946 has achieved great success. Since its inception the United States government has spent 2.7 billion dollars on the exchange of a quarter of a million Americans and foreign participants.
The Fulbright program boasts an alumni list including 32 Nobel prize laureates. Last year alone the State Department spent nearly 15 million on Fulbright academic exchanges with the Western hemisphere which funded the exchange of around 1100 students and scholars. However, the United States government cannot manage these complex exchanges alone. We rely on the commitment and skills of our private sector partners and private/public partnerships to conduct our exchanges. Last year for example, in addition to the 15 million in Department funds, we received an additional 10 million dollars in cost-sharing from non U.S. sources for western hemisphere Fulbright programs. While the Department’s investment in international education is significant, private sector investment is substantially hard. This year nearly 600,000 foreign students are studying in the U.S. These students constitute a significant cultural and economic resource for our country and I believe for theirs. In the 2002/2003 school year almost 100,000 students came from this hemisphere to the United States; about 70,000 from Latin America and about another 25,000 from Canada. Unfortunately the decade of the 1990’s showed the U.S. share of a total number of foreign students declining from around 40% to 30%. New security measures, as I mentioned before, introduced in the wake of the terrorist attacks in 2001 have no doubt exacerbated this decline. We are working to meet all new security requirements while still encouraging the very positive contributions from foreign students in the U.S. And I am sure some of you in the room were present when Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affaires Roger Noriega held a meeting last week, Ned was there, Patty was there, and perhaps some others, to try to engage the NGO community in a discussion of how the State Department can help, how they can help, how we can get through. The concerns primarily are funding and visas and trying to develop that connection. Assistant Secretary Noriega committed to discussing this with Secretary Powell and I know he will do it. And I know that Secretary Powell is willing to discuss difficult subjects.
For his part, President Bush believes that a good education is the foundation for creating economic growth, social advancement and democratic progress. At home the President made education a priority through his no-child left behind initiative, he shares his commitment to providing a quality education with many leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean who understand that education is critical to achieving hemispheric security and prosperity, in addition to addressing the real world needs of people, especially the historically dispossessed. The value added in this was an interesting statistic, it is one I used last year also with different numbers, the value added that education provides is indisputable to any society. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, recent research feels there is an impressive rate of return on our investment on education. On average, an economy obtains nearly 18 percent return on investment in primary education, and nearly 13 percent return on secondary education. In addition, we know from experience that a more educated work force learns to use increasingly sophisticated technology in their jobs and not surprisingly the level of direct foreign investment is greater in countries with an educated work force. Greater investment in education can also contribute to alleviating chronic poverty among the historically dispossessed populations, giving them a greater stake in the future of their countries.
Let me speak briefly about the special Summit of the Americas coming up next month. At the Summit the U.S. would like to focus on the issue of holding education systems accountable for results. Increasing accountability requires empowering parents and communities to improve their schools through well defined educational standards, regular assessments of students learning through testing and educational report cards to identify where the standards are not being met. We are encouraging our Summit partners to develop report cards that can clearly and concisely document how education systems are doing, help set priorities, generate recommendations for change and promote transparency and accountability to state holders. Most of these subjects are not of immediate interest to you in this room because we are talking here about higher education. But all of them will be critical to broadening the pool of potential students for our Fulbright program. The Summit agenda for education is an ambitious one. The Fulbright program has instituted within the last couple of years the New Century Scholars program which brings together scholars from all over the world to focus on a single overriding international issue. The first group dealt with challenges to global health including HIV aids, and the second group is now winding up its work on sectarian, ethnic and cultural conflict. The third group will concentrate on international women’s equality and empowerment.
The Fulbright branch for Western Hemisphere Affairs has worked to propose to incentive English language funds for countries to reach out to groups and regions in which English ability is often insufficient for acceptance in U.S. universities. Most teachers and professors in the region fall into the category of disadvantage as elites shun the teaching profession in favor of more remunerative occupations. All of these efforts are designed to ensure that the Fulbright program remains topical and relevant. Our educational programs are not incidental to U.S. Foreign Policy, they are central to it. They build the relationships in which a successful foreign policy rests. They open people’s eyes to what might be. We don’t support educational reform to remake others in our image. We do it to give people the tools and freedom to make their own hopefully good choices. Ultimately, our support for educational reform reflects our inherent idealism, our belief in the power of individuals to shape and transform the world.
Thank you very much.
Message from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship
Board: Policies and Directions
FSB member Rita DiMartino
Deputy Chief of Mission, James Williard, Governor of Maldonado, Enrique Antía, Director of Culture Agustín Courtoisie, President of Uruguay Fulbright Commission Board Brian Penn, Deputy Director of WHA/PDA, Bernard F. Shinkman and most specially Dra. Mercedes Jiménez de Aréchaga
I am delighted to extend to you this morning warmest greetings from the J. William Fulbright Board of Foreign J. William Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships.
I am a relatively new member of the Board – I was appointed by the President in October of last year. Bu I am no stranger to this part of the world – since February of 2002, I have been the Principal US Delegate to the Inter-American Commission of Women and also the Principal Representative to the Inter-American Children’s Institute and those appointments have given me an opportunity to travel extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean. Now, as a member of the Fulbright Board, I look forward to working with all of you.
Regional meetings of the people who work year-round to make the Fulbright Program a success are extremely valuable occasions, and when I received an invitation to participate in this meeting I knew that, as one of the member of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee for the FSB, that it was especially important for me to be here. I understand hat his is an historic meeting – the first time, for a long time, for the region that those who work on the program in Commission countries and those who work on it at our Embassies and posts have all come together at one meeting. Colleagues on the Board and I appreciate the fact that the Fulbright Program works because of the work that you do. They join me in whishing you a most successful conference this week and they will be looking forward to hearing about the outcomes of the meeting.
I’d like to tell you something about the Fulbright Board. Briefly, it consists of twelve members from across a spectrum of fields: academic, business, legal, political, cultural, and public relations. We include university professors, a former Fulbright Commission Executive Director, business people, consultants, and a former US Senator. Four members are appointed each year to three-year terms by the President and serve under the auspices of the legislation that governs the Fulbright Program. I am told that in the original draft there was not a provision for such a Board but that it was added later. Apparently, it became clear to the visionaries who designed the Program that a Board of private citizens was a crucial component in such an undertaking as Fulbright.
The Board has several important duties. It has final responsibility for the selection of grantees qualified to participate in the program and we supervise the exchange program both in the United States and abroad. We meet in full session four times a year and in smaller executive sessions four more times a year. We examine the larger policy issues concerning the program and met with State Department officials, Fulbright alumni, staff of the cooperating agencies, visiting Executive Directors and others. The Board also sets the policies that govern the Program.
I know that my colleagues on the Board want you to know that we believe that the mission of the Fulbright Program is an important and relevant today as ever – probably more so, post September 11. Today more than ever there is a compelling need to foster bi-national programs that increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It is a credit to the Fulbright Program and its ‘founding father’, Senator. William Fulbright, that the program has, over nearly six decades, remained so vibrant and relevant. The Fulbright Program has proven that it is capable of renewing itself constantly through initiatives and adaptable programs at the same time remaining true to its core objectives.
While the Fulbright Program today looks at ways to extend its reach to parts of the world where conflict is intense, I want to assure you that the Fulbright Board also realizes the importance of the relationships the United Stats has with the countries of the Western Hemisphere. We value the vibrant spirit of bin-nationalism that sustains the Fulbright Program in this region. In understand that 1/3 of the funding in WHA comes from cost-sharing and fundraising on the part of commissions and posts. The board would like to compliment you for your creativity and congratulate you for your diligence in these efforts. We don´t take such support, such partnership, for granted. This administration also is aware of the importance of this region, for example, President Bush is planning to participate in a Special Summit of democratically elected leaders in the hemisphere to take place in Mexico in January, which will address a new agenda for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. I know it must seem to you that sometimes attention for the Fulbright Program is being focuses only on countries of the Arab world but I can assure you, than the Senator’s vision of increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the world continues and that your countries to be a crucial part of that goal.
I would like to take a moment to talk to you about one aspect of the Fulbright Program I believe is on interest to the entire Board. This is what could be called community service and volunteerism. The purpose of the Fulbright Program – to promote mutual understanding – is accomplished not only through professional and academic endeavors. Grantees need to go beyond the classroom or the library; they should become engaged in their host communities – whether through professional associations, or by speaking in schools about their own country, or by finding ways to take part in community activities. You will be hearing more from the Board in the coming year about this.
I hope as you think about the experiences you have had with students and scholars and teachers and how they have had an impact on their host communities here and in the United States, that you will share some of this history with me.
The Board also has long been interested in the alumni of the Fulbright Program and the ways that we can involve them with current grantees and use them as advocates of the Program. I know that WHA has some very strong and active alumni associations and I was pleased to see that one of the sessions of the conference is devoted to “Developing a Committed Alumni Association.”
I am told that this conference aims to be a “nuts and bolts” one – in other words, one where those who work with the Program can exchange best practices on how best to run the Program. During the days that I am here with you, I hope you will share your perspectives on the program, your concerns and, of course, your successes and achievements. I will be leaving here mid-week and going directly to Washington for our December Board meeting and look forward to bringing to the Board’s attention matters you would like to have raised with them.
Now before I end, I would like to make a presentation and, on behalf the entire Board, offer grateful appreciation to the Executive Director o the Brazil Commission. I have here certificate signed by the Chair of the Fulbright Board, which honors the 21 years of distinguished service of Marco Antonio Da Rocha, and a small gift from the Board. Marco Antonio, if you would come up here.
Thank you.