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Fulbright Program for U.S. Students

U.S. Fulbright Program
Adviser Newsletter

Issue 9 | June 2007

Best Practices: Integrating Fulbright into your campus
table of contents

 Program Updates

An Integrated Approach to Fulbright Promotion and Advising

by Cheryl Lochner-Wright, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Over the past few years, members of the campus Fulbright committee at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have begun to discuss a more comprehensive approach to informing the campus community about the Fulbright U.S. Student program.  We realized that, in addition to reaching potential student applicants, we needed to more effectively reach out to the faculty who could mentor those students throughout the application process.

 

 

Promotion to Students

E-mail has proven to be our most effective method of reaching students with Fulbright information.  We include interviews with our current Fulbright grantees in spring semester editions of "Global Outlook," a monthly e-newsletter sent from the Center for International Education (CIE) to all returned study abroad students on campus.  The April and May editions also include program information and an invitation to a campus-wide informational session in May.

 

 
Cheryl Lochner-Wright  
Two weeks prior to the informational session, the deans of our four colleges/professional schools receive e-mails that include background on Fulbright, statistics about UW-Eau Claire students’ success in the competition, and a promotional piece to share with students.  The deans forward these e-mails to all department chairs, with a personal request to distribute the messages to faculty and students in their respective departments.  The director of the campus honors program, the assistant vice chancellor who oversees student/faculty research, the McNair program project director on campus, and specific faculty in departments who have had successful grantees in the past receive similar e-mails tailored to their particular constituencies.

 

At the informational session, I use a tailored version of the PowerPoint that the Fulbright Program provides and walk students through the online resources.  After the session, attendees receive a handout geared to the type of grant they are considering (if known) and an invitation to meet with me to discuss any questions they may have.  If a student is unable to attend the session, I send the PowerPoint with an invitation to make an appointment for additional information.

 

Faculty Roles in Promotion and Advising

Our basic approach with faculty is similar to that described above:  Fulbright student grantees are highlighted in a fall edition of the CIE faculty newsletter, which is distributed to all faculty and academic staff.  We include information about the program and the informational session in a spring edition.  Faculty members also receive the e-mails already mentioned from their college dean and/or department chair.

 

Beyond that, members of the campus Fulbright committee developed a handout for faculty who may be mentoring a student through the application process.  The handout explains the Fulbright application process, with special attention to the potential roles of a faculty mentor. The handout is referenced in the faculty newsletter and is available on the CIE Website; students can also request that it be sent directly to those faculty members they anticipate working with most closely as they develop their proposals.

 

In the past two years, the online reference submission has created a fair amount of anxiety for students and faculty alike.  In response, we developed a handout for potential Fulbright referees that specifically explains the critical role that the references play in a study/research or ETA application and the differences between a Fulbright reference and a more general student reference.  In addition, it outlines the online submission process and directs faculty to campus resources available to them if they have questions.

 

All of the handouts mentioned in this article contain information that is easily accessible on the Fulbright Website.  However, we have found that by providing the information in smaller packages, and at various points during the promotion and application process, both students and faculty seem to attend to and retain the information better.

  

Cheryl Lochner-Wright was a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Germany in 1986-87.  She is currently a Study Abroad Coordinator and the campus Fulbright Program Adviser at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  If you would like copies of any of the handouts mentioned in this article, you can contact Cheryl at lochnecb@uwec.edu.

 

       

 

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How to Get the “Word” Out

by Susannah Gal, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and FPA and Gul Karagoz-Kizilca, Graduate Assistant to the Fulbright program at SUNY Binghampton University

Class visits with an IIE Program Manager, Jonathan Akeley, a Binghamton University alumnus, made me realize that Binghamton University students lacked a practical knowledge of the Fulbright program. Even some Fulbright recipient faculty on our campus did not realize that the program was originally designed for their students to go abroad.  Thus, we became aware that we needed to promote within the university community the wonderful opportunities offered by the Fulbright program. 

 

 
Susannah Gal and Gul Karagoz-Kizilca at Binghamton University 
In the Spring of 2007, a graduate assistant was provided to the Fulbright committee, and together, we brainstormed about ideas for how to conduct our promotion.  We developed a few methods that we think have helped make possible candidates more aware of the Fulbright program.  First, we wanted to create a list of faculty and staff that had received Fulbright grants and enlist their aid in this campaign.  Creating a list was not as easy as it sounds.  The graduate student went through back issues of a university newspaper, and found every citation of faculty and staff who received Fulbright grants.  In some cases, departments had the CVs of faculty posted online.  Word of mouth also allowed us to discover more Fulbrighters. 

 

Our research revealed more than 40 Binghamton University faculty and staff have held Fulbright grants.  We contacted each recipient to confirm that they had been awarded a Fulbright grant, and then asked their help in promoting the program among their students.  We asked specifically if they could provide any pictures or comments about their experience to update the Binghamton University Fulbright webpage, and asked if they would participate in one of the information sessions we planned for the spring, and/or would allow us to visit one of their classes to talk about the Fulbright program.  In general, the faculty responded enthusiastically. 

 

For the class visits, we proposed to present in the first 5 minutes of the period on the Fulbright program.  We targeted courses offered during the spring semester, which fulfilled a Global General Education requirement.  Classes taught by former Fulbrighters were specifically considered.  We identified relatively large classes, ranging from 30 to 200 students, which were composed of students at many levels.  It was our hope that this strategy would place the name “Fulbright” in the minds of many students.  The classes we considered were from departments such as Anthropology, Art History, Asian Studies, Comparative Literature, History, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Psychology, Sociology and Women’s Studies, as well as several of the language departments. 

 

At these 5 to 10 minute presentations, we outlined the purposes of the Fulbright program, provided eligibility guidelines to the students and gave them examples of possible projects appropriate to the subject matter of the class or the students’ majors.  If appropriate, we informed the students that their professor had received a Fulbright grant.  We also specifically advertised upcoming information sessions.  Throughout the spring term, the graduate assistant visited 17 classes and spoke to more than 1100 students.  Attendance doubled at the information sessions compared to last year.  In addition, a large number of interested students who were unavailable for our sessions contacted the graduate assistant.  

 

We were also fortunate to arrange for a Question and Answer short article in a university newspaper.  Since its publication, the article has been linked to the Binghamton University Fulbright website and expanded on the alumni association page.  It is our belief that these activities have significantly raised campus awareness concerning possible Fulbright grants, and as such should increase the number and quality of the applicant pool for the Fall 2007 as well as for future competitions.  Although the scale at which this campaign was conducted may not be practical for those campuses without assistants, it is our impression that even modest attempts at these activities would effectively get the word “Fulbright” out among the students and faculty of any campus.

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Where Does Inspiration Come From?

by Kathleen Harris, Director of the National and International Scholarship Office, Loyola Marymount University

At Loyola Marymount University, we started the recruiting cycle in February. We organized a special event designed to convey the intangible, life-long benefits of the  Fulbright U.S. Student  award, along with the practical nuts-and-bolts information a prospective applicant needs to start putting inspiration into action.

 

Working with Kristina Hahn, president of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Fulbright Association, and LMU film professor Glenn Gebhard, former Fulbright scholar and mainstay of our campus evaluation committee, I coordinated an evening for a cross-generational audience, where former Fulbright scholars from the past fifty years mingled with current visiting scholars from around the world and prospective LMU applicants.  

 

Although Kristina and I relied on e-mail to send out the initial invitations, I also posted a series of notices on the LMU website.  I asked LMU students to arrive early and greeted them with a packet of information, including a synopsis of the projects and profiles of the four current LMU Fulbright scholars. As the students arrived, they were asked to add to their name tags the country or countries they were considering for their Fulbright proposal, and I gathered them for a brief workshop as the rest of the audience was arriving.

 

Nearly 150 people packed the Mayer Theatre for the main event, a screening of Glenn’s new documentary, “Cuba: A Lifetime of Passion”, the product of his collaboration with another former Fulbrighter, Mario Congreve. Before the film started, Kristina, Glenn, Mario, and I each explained how our Fulbright experience has transformed our lives, personally and professionally. While we knew this provocative documentary, along with plentiful Cuban food and drink, guaranteed an evening of lively conversation; at the reception that followed we used our opening remarks to encourage our audience to read those name tags and to share their personal stories – where they went, where they’re from, where they’d like to go.

 

Judging from multi-generational, animated groups overflowing the reception at Loyola Marymount University, the name tags turned out to be a good “ice breaker.” While I have high hopes that the evening’s excitement will inspire more and better applications from LMU students, I already know that this energetic encounter with others transformed by the Fulbright ideal infused my students at our spring workshops with a key motivational factor as they prepare for this year’s competition.

 

 

 



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