Fulbright Program Adviser
Newsletter

Role of the FPA: Final Steps in Application Submission

1. View lists of applicants from your institution who have started Fulbright applications: Embark Admissions Center In Progress.

2. View online applications submitted by your institution's candidates: Embark Admission Center Review.

3. Review all submitted applications, including language evaluations, reference letters and transcripts.

4. Complete and upload the Campus Committee Evaluation (CCE) form into each candidate’s application: Application must be submitted and in Review.

5. Complete and mail a hardcopy Memorandum of Transmittal to IIE, U.S. Student Programs, 809 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017.

6. View Recommendation status results in January.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: FPAs will have access to the Embark Admissions Center to view applications and upload the CCE (Campus Committee Evaluation) until October 19, 2011 (two days after the deadline).  Please note that applicants are instructed to upload transcripts and letters of affiliation before the application deadline on October 17.  Because of the National Screening Committee schedule, IIE can no longer accept materials after the application deadline.  However, if applicants receive a letter of affiliation after the deadline, they should hold onto them.  If RECOMMENDED, IIE will accept these letters after the recommended notices are sent in January. 

If you or your candidates encounter any technical difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact IIE or Embark Support.

Thank you for your hard work and good luck to all of your candidates!

Transforming Academic Life: The Fulbright Program at Stephen F. Austin State University

Thomas W. Segady, Fulbright Program Adviser, Stephen F. Austin State University

The university possesses a faculty that is exceptionally diversified in its range of academic interests.  For example, two of the most prominent colleges are the schools of music and forestry, both of which have produced a number of Fulbrighters over the years.  To be able to reach across disciplines most effectively, two decisions were made: first, to form a collegial group of Fulbrighters, who meet to exchange experiences and to identify new faculty whose research and/or teaching interests would benefit from receiving a Fulbright, and second, to create an additional, non-formalized FPA position.  The person in this position has professional interests in a field very different from the formally-designated FPA, and the two, working together, can communicate more effectively with as many of our colleagues as possible. 

In addition to serving the interests and needs of our academic community, however, there has been an ethic of bringing a global perspective to the community through the Fulbright experience.  We believe that is one of the foundational Fulbright principles—to broaden perspectives and understandings of the world.  Whenever possible, we endeavor to weave citizens of all walks of life into this tapestry of our cumulative experience.  For me, this meant primarily sharing my stories of living, working and teaching at the University of Pune, India.  It has been said—accurately—that living in India means being able to live simultaneously in five centuries at once.  Now, with images of modernization and Bollywood informing the collective sense of Indian culture, it is also important to be mindful of another India that exists just beside this one—an India driven by bullock carts and a depth of wisdom garnered from a civilization that has lasted for millennia.  To reinforce this learning, a lasting relationship between our university and the University of Pune has enabled scholars from India to live and work for extended periods on our campus.

Stephen F. Austin State University's Professor Michael Tkacik

A significant number of our colleagues have received Fulbright grants in countries as such as China and Peru.  As a result, the intellectual and cultural lives of both our university and community have been enhanced immeasurably.  So many of us here reflect the enriched lives—both academically and personally—that have long been the promise of the Fulbright Program.