Fulbright Chronicles, Volume 1, Number 4 (2023)
Authors
Bruce B. Svare and Kevin F. F. Quigley
With this fourth issue, we conclude our first year of publishing Fulbright Chronicles. Here, we want to review what we have accomplished and discuss our plans for the future.
In establishing Fulbright Chronicles, we hoped to create a professional journal by and for Fulbrighters shining a light on their scholarship. To accomplish this goal, we formed an all-volunteer global editorial board of alums that would work together to create this journal (https://fulbright-chronicles.com/editorial-board/).
We wanted to bring a high level of professionalism to this startup, a peer-reviewed, quarterly journal advancing the scholarly work and exploring the enduring impact of Fulbright alumni from every discipline, every Fulbright award program, and every region of the world.
This past year, our 11 member Editorial Board worked diligently to help create our website, develop author guidelines, solicit, review, edit and then share articles via social media. Our 18 ad hoc reviewers (see list at the end of this issue) also played an instrumental role in our success this year. We believe that the teamwork associated with publishing four issues in less than a year, reflects the core value of Fulbright: smart, forward-looking, problem-solving cross-cultural collaboration.
With the Editorial Board’s efforts and the savvy of Publishing Editor, Rob Ellis in England, we published four issues of 21 articles, 9 commentaries and 8 book reviews in well under a year. While short of our goal to have 50 percent of the articles by non-US Fulbrighters and to include articles from every Fulbright Program, during this first year we have made good progress towards that goal.
Fifteen of these articles were authored by US Fulbrighters, and 6 were authored by foreign (non-US) Fulbrighters. For commentaries, 7 were US Fulbrighters and 2 were authored by foreign Fulbrighters. For book reviews, 4 were authored by US Fulbrighters and 4 were authored by foreign Fulbrighters. In total, 26 of the 37 (70%) contributors to Fulbright Chronicles came from US and 11 of 37 (30%) came from foreign contributors.
Of the 41 authors whose work was published in the Fulbright Chronicles pages this year, 28 were scholar awardees, 2 were distinguished chairs, 2 were specialists, 5 were English language teaching assistants, 3 were pre-doctoral scholars, and 1 was a high school teaching fellow. Fulbrighters from the US, Australia, Mexico, Slovenia, India, the United Kingdom and Nigeria wrote for Fulbright Chronicles. They traveled to the US, South Korea, Latvia, Australia, Spain, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Brazil, Thailand, Iceland, Ireland, Kenya, Estonia, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Mexico, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Burma/Myanmar and Kosovo to conduct their research, teaching, consulting and a wide array of other professional activities.
The topics discussed in our pages during this year were wide ranging, deeply enriching, and inspirational. On vivid display was the ability of Fulbrighters to address important world problems and to do so in a framework of mutual understanding and partnership.
The topics discussed in our pages during this year were wide ranging, deeply enriching, and inspirational. On vivid display was the ability of Fulbrighters to address important world problems and to do so in a framework of mutual understanding and partnership. The articles, commentaries and book reviews focused on the impact of Fulbright awards in developing global and cultural perspectives and cooperation, elevating career trajectories in terms of research and teaching accomplishments, and expanding the educational, environmental, economic, health and social conditions of host countries. While we are proud of our accomplishments to date, there is still a great deal to be achieved. Moving forward, we need to do better in having an equal distribution between foreign and US contributors. One initiative that should help is the further expansion of our editorial team in other foreign countries (Please see the advertisement for four new associate editorial positions on page 71).
However, adding editorial team members is not the only thing we can (and should) do. While reaching out to the Fulbright alumni membership as well as foreign commissions is something we regularly do, we need to double down on these efforts to ensure that we are really representing the enormous breadth and richness of the Fulbright program in our pages. We also depend upon you our readers to spread the word about Fulbright Chronicles and contribute articles.
A major accomplishment this year was the addition of a book review section, shepherded by our book review editor, Erika J. Waters. In the coming years, we hope to have special themed issues, podcasts, and interviews with extraordinarily distinguished Fulbrighters. However, in view of our desire to be indexed by leading bibliographic databases by the end of 2023, this year our main focus will continue to be the promotion of the scholarship of Fulbrighters from around the world.
The current issue of Fulbright Chronicles, the last issue of volume 1, is representative of the remarkable work of Fulbrighters. From her perspective as Director of the Peace Corps program and a former Fulbright Program Administrator, Jody Olsen writes about the essential dimension of trust that develops between Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbrighters with their respective hosts. Tremaine Smith and Anne Campbell propose how sustainability strategies could be promoted more vigorously in the Fulbright program in order to reduce negative environmental effects. Australian Carmel Dean recounts her Fulbright work on Broadway and how it transformed her career and allowed her to infuse her home country with new indigenous theater productions, as well as those transported from the US. Fulbright specialist Michael Czaja writes about his work bringing modern fire management protocols to Portugal. Mexican Marx Navarro-Castillo discusses how his Fulbright award helped him in his graduate studies in the United States and later opened doors for him in his important archeological work in his home country. Kuldeep Magi tells of his work bringing remote learning strategies to Thailand at a time when these pedagogical approaches were virtually nonexistent there. David Smith reports on how his Fulbright experience in Estonia impacted his career choices, provided him an opportunity to support global education in community colleges, and fueled his passion for advancing peacebuilding. Australian Brydie-Leigh Bartleet presents how her program of research in New York City exploring the ways in which music and the arts are addressing complex social issues, such as social inequity, are bringing about positive change in communities. Finally, this issue contains four more intriguing book reviews by Fulbrighters examining recent books authored by Fulbright alums.
Finally, we want to thank all those who have been instrumental in the success of Fulbright Chronicles. Our hope is that you will stay with us as we build on the foundational success of our first year. While we have accomplished a great deal to date, we are just getting started. Of course, aspiring to do more is the ethos that drives many Fulbrighters to continue their work after their Fulbright experience. We know, however, there are always new challenges and new horizons to explore. We look forward to continued engagement with you our readers, and we are counting on you to send us your contributions and your ideas for improvement. Together, we can more fully realize the promise of Fulbright Chronicles, illuminating the enduring impact of the Fulbright Program!