Fulbright Chronicles, Volume 2, Number 1 (2023)
Authors
Kevin F. F. Quigley and Bruce B. Svare
Since its inception nearly 80 years ago, the purpose of the Fulbright Program has centered on education and its lasting impact on peace and prosperity. This focus has not changed in spite of challenges of access, affordability, controversies over curricula, intensifying competition from new modes of education and mounting skepticism about the value of education.
In this first issue of our second year, our contributors are all educators. They have a variety of stories to tell that align with the enduring purpose and focus of the Fulbright Program.
In this first issue of our second year, our contributors are all educators. They have a variety of stories to tell that align with the enduring purpose and focus of the Fulbright Program. By coincidence, two of our contributors (Karen Barton and Mark Frank) used the same evocative quote from Senator Fulbright to anchor their articles: “We must try to expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception, and there is no way of doing that except through education.” Based on his life experiences, especially as a Rhodes Scholar, Senator Fulbright keenly understood that expanding the boundaries of wisdom, empathy, and perception is essential to develop the preconditions for a better world.
Reading the articles in this issue, you will sense that our contributors have internalized this vital message. These contributors include commentaries by Gokham Hacisalihoghu on how global exchange programs can advance plant food security and Ragupathy Kannan on how the Fulbright Program can be used to recruit foreign scholars.
In our articles, Sally Shelton-Colby discusses a remarkable diplomatic career working to make foes into friends; Karen Barton discusses how her Fulbright in Nepal following the Gorkha Earthquake has led to ongoing relationships connecting faculty, students and institutions. Molly Hamm-Rodriquez and Megan Jeanette Myers discuss the importance of community-based research based on their experiences in the Dominican Republic. Like Barton, Hamm-Rodriquez and Myers highlight the essential roles of their students in the effectiveness of the Fulbright experience.
Often the power of the Fulbright experience is enhanced by the individual’s own experience. Ito Outini, a human rights and a disabilities activist, has helped showcase the diverse programs that the Fulbright Programs offer, creating opportunities for others. Mark Frank draws on his own experience to discuss the Fulbright University, a remarkable higher education institution in Vietnam dedicated to the purpose of the Fulbright Program. Rosina Krecek discusses the poignant irony of presenting a keynote on global public health just as WHO is pronouncing the global pandemic.
In addition to these articles, we have another set of reviews of books written by Fulbrighters reviewed by Fulbrighters. They cast a luminous light on the extraordinary range of talents and interests of our global community.
In our last issue, we wrote that a key objective for the Fulbright Chronicles this year was to expand the contributions from non-American Fulbrighters. We mentioned that we would be expanding our editorial team to help achieve this. We are very pleased that we have included a number of new associate editors. They include Habiba I. Atta (Nigeria), Jose Caetano (Portugal), Steven Darian (US), Fidel de la Cruz (Mexico), Aicha Lakhssass (Morocco), Maria Lopez de Bayas Alcantara (Spain), Narun Pat (New Zealand), and Aurelian Muntean (Romania). You can read more about them and their Fulbright experiences at www.fulbright-chronicles.com.