U.S. Archives

Establishing a Host Affiliation

Applicants must carefully read the criteria for host affiliation requirements in the summary for the country to which they are applying. 

In countries where it is up to the grantee to find and secure affiliations, IIE cannot provide a list of institutions that acted as a host to previous Fulbrighters.  Past Fulbrighters have used a number of methods to contact hosts and solicit support for their projects. One main way is to use the contacts and advisers that you already have. Ask if one of your current professors can help to put you into contact with a professor at a university overseas. Other than that, some committed research and perseverance will aid you in finding a host affiliation.  Once you find a possible host,  make contact by sending an introductory letter or email.  Keep in mind that many schools are closed during the summer months,  so you may want to begin early, or heat up your search in the early fall. Remember, however, that IIE does not accept any suppoirt materials or letters via email or fax, and that sufficient lead time must be allowed to receive hard copy responses, with original signatures.

Letters of Support - The most competitive candidates will include documentation of contacts with potential host affiliations with the application. This could be of a letter of invitation from the host institution/organization/individual indicating research support or have access to facilities available to the applicant; or, it could be a letter indicating that the admitting institution provides courses in the applicants areas of study.  IIE refers to these letters synonymously as: letters of support, letters of affiliation, letters of invitation and/or letters of admission.There are no specific requirements for the letter of support from the host institution. Every affiliation relationship will be different depending upon the candidate"s project.  In general, letters of support on institutional letterhead sent with the application are preferred.  The letters should state how the supervisor/host institution will help the applicant to facilitate the project (i.e., what resources will be offered, what kind of supervision will be given, etc.)  Some applicants propose to do independent research, so these letters of support are more crucial to establishing the feasibility of a project.  Other applicants propose study projects, so letters of support are really a complement to the overall application, but attest to it's feasibility. Therefore, you should try to get a letter of support that is as detailed as possible.  Ultimately, it is up to your host affiliation as to the level/kind of support that they are willing to offer you.

In the U.S., we have become accustomed to rapid response, especially in electronic communication. Many cultures do not have this expectation, and many people do not enjoy the reliable connectivity or easy access to the Internet that we do. Therefore, be advised that you may not receive a response to your inquiries as quickly as you might hope. Applicants are advised to begin their search for an affiliation as early as possible. Letters of support can be submitted to IIE via regular mail after the deadline.  However, we cannot guarantee that letters of support submitted separate from the full application will be successfully married up with the application in time for committee review. We will make every effort to do so, but can make no guarantee.  Also, IIE cannot confirm receipt of any documents. Please do not call or email us to ask if your letter of support was received.  We recommend that you send your materials using a method that will provide return receipt. Please note that we will not accept letters of support, recommendation, or foreign language reports sent via email or fax. Degree Programs - If your plan is to complete a masters degree or other to attend a structured degree program, make sure that you apply for admission to the host university by their deadline.  Do not wait for the Fulbright decision to come through or you may be too late in gaining admission into your chosen university.
 
If you are applying for admission into a study/masters program you do not need to submit the letter of admission with the application. You can submit the acceptance letter whenever you receive it, but an award offer would be contingent upon you receiving placement at a university.  However, even if you are applying to do a structured degree program, obtaining a letter of support from a faculty member at the host university will complement your application.

Fulbright in a Multicultural World

Global multiculturalism is a deliberate approach to diversity, implementing platforms for real and practical discourse. With questions of democracy and multiculturalism surfacing on the global news scene, the Fulbright mission continues to invigorate cross-cultural dialogues. One of the fundamental ways to do this is through the affiliations Fulbrighters establish with host country organizations, schools and individuals.

In some cultures this is called "ta"araf" – an Arabic term describing a positive interaction process, or "getting to know one another".

Mutual understanding is the foundation of the ideals of Fulbright, and it is a very important outcome of the Fulbright experience. When Fulbrighters establish affiliations with community organizations, schools and individuals in their host countries, communities as well as the Fulbrighters experience real and material gains from this engagement. This approach to global understanding is a human relations approach which can establish lasting bonds among peoples and across borders. These relationships become enriched, the more we confront them with new questions and challenges.

We sometimes view ourselves as independent from the whole, disengaging ourselves from the global and political scene. The Fulbright experience challenges these thoughts and feelings, and changes our approach to global relations. By understanding our relationship to each other, our interconnectedness, our multicultural reality, we act and engage ourselves in our local and global communities.

Fulbright is committed to these principles and includes within its mission the necessity to recognize all aspects of diversity within the global community. It encourages us to be self-critical and to avoid imposition of our ideas and beliefs on other cultures and communities, which ultimately opens the door to development and global harmony. It teaches us that we are only a small part of this globe. As the Nigerian proverb puts it, "igi kan ki s"igbo" or "one tree cannot make a forest." The forest that we need is Fulbright"s global multiculturalism.

We draw inspiration from all around us, whether in the diction of global leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. – "an injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere " – or multicultural musics from jazz, funk, West African fusions of Fela Kuti to the new multilingual "melting pop" of the Brazilian Girls, painting lyrics in five languages. Whenever the time and whatever the tune, multiculturalism speaks, and here we are, the Fulbright mission, listening loud and clear.

Apply to Fulbright, and establish your global affiliation.

Fulbright Fellows Directory Now LIVE!

HIV/AIDS Transmission and Prevention in Trinidad & Tobago

My decision to come to Trinidad and Tobago was influenced by my personal experiences working with HIV/AIDS patients and as a peer health educator on HIV/AIDS prevention. During my last year in college, I was a research assistant at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, and my duties included recruiting HIV positive patients at an infectious diseases clinic for a research study. I was very bothered by my experiences in that clinic, one being the fact that 90% of the patients I saw in the clinic were people of African descent. By interacting with them, they opened up to me and told me how they got infected. The vast majority of them said they got infected through intravenous drug use as Baltimore city has a serious drug problem, but the rest of them mostly got infected from having unprotected sex and many said they lacked previous knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention.

As a young black woman, it really bothers me that people of African descent worldwide are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, in addition to women and youths who are also highly affected. Statistics show that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases; the Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV infection; in the United States, black people make up only 12% of the population but have the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases, and black women account for 72% of all new HIV/AIDS cases among women in the United States. Also, over 50% of new HIV infection occurs in young people aged 15-24. As you can see, people of African descent are the most affected ethnic group in the world, hence my inspiration to get involved and join the fight against HIV/AIDS.

There's a saying that if you can"t do big things, do small things in great ways. I felt like the most I could do at this point in my life was to contribute towards raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and give people the tools they need to protect themselves. I received training from the After-School Institute and got certified by the Baltimore City Health Department as a peer health educator on HIV/AIDS prevention. Through my interaction with young people, I realized how little many of them knew about HIV/AIDS, how it is transmitted and the risks involved in some of their behaviors. But I also met young people who had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission and safe sex, but that did not stop them from engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

This is how I became interested in doing research on behavior and attitude modification as a tool of HIV/AIDS prevention. I was curious to study the relationship between people"s knowledge of HIV/AIDS and their sexual behaviors. I wanted to find out why people who have knowledge of HIV/AIDS still engaged in risky sexual practices, and also determine if knowledge really was impacting people's sexual behavior. That way, I could figure out and understand other factors that promote risky sexual behaviors and consequently the spread of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, I was also curious to come to an understanding of why HIV/AIDS is more prevalent among people of African descent. I was interested in finding out whether there are differences in sexual behavior among people of different races within the same culture.

I applied to the Fulbright Program and proposed to do research in Trinidad and Tobago because I learned so much about the diversity in Trinidad from my classmates in college and I also wanted to experience Carnival, something I had always heard about. For my research, I am affiliated with the Department of Community Health of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in the University of the West Indies [medical school]. My objective is to identify the risk factors for HIV/AIDS and assess the barriers to safe sexual practices/condom use. I'm also using the research opportunity to spread knowledge about HIV/AIDS, motivate people to get tested, change their sexual behaviors and attitudes towards safe sex/condom use. I accomplish this by giving my research survey participants HIV/AIDS information pamphlets, my personal article on HIV/AIDS prevention, and through conversations and interactions.
During my stay here in Trinidad, I am actively involved in community outreach/education on HIV/AIDS prevention. I am collaborating with several health and youth organizations such as the National AIDS Program, Queen's Park Counseling Center and Clinic, Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Friends for Life, the youth outreach department of YMCA, and the Cyril Ross HIV/AIDS Orphanage. These organizations provide HIV/AIDS information, voluntary counseling and testing, advocate for the sexual and reproductive health of youths, work to reduce the stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS, and also provide care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In the course of my research and volunteer work at some of these sites, I have learned a lot about the HIV/AIDS situation in Trinidad and many sad personal stories have been shared with me. The most bothersome of all are the married women I encountered that got infected by their HIV-positive husbands who were unfaithful. One of them got tested and found out that she had HIV only after her husband passed away when she saw his death certificate that listed AIDS as the cause of death. I think it is more painful when someone who does the right thing becomes infected due to the wrong doings of someone else. This is the plight of some married women who are faithful to their husbands but whose husbands are unfaithful to them. It becomes more apparent that the choice of a partner should be a very careful one in this day and age when infidelity could result in transmission of a deadly disease such as HIV/AIDS. Also, I was shocked to find out that antiretroviral drugs only recently became available in Trinidad in 2002, meaning that many HIV positive people did not receive early treatment to help prolong their lives.

It has been very rewarding to have the opportunity to contribute towards reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago, and I plan to continue helping to reduce the incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among black people worldwide. I would like more people of African descent especially young people to realize the devastation that this disease is causing in our communities and get involved in HIV/AIDS prevention even in little ways, otherwise this deadly disease will continue to threaten our people.

Citizen Idealists go to School

These three cases seem to be the best-known grassroots examples of ordinary people engaging hands-on in basic education experiments in rural China. As pioneers in a field with great need for reform, the idealism and passion of these school founders is engaging, and they are adept at publicising their values and work through websites and online forums, to attract a network of outside financial and human resource support. Besides the volunteers who come to help out at the schools, many more external supporters live in the cities, giving their time to organise fundraisers or liaise with outside organizations and raise awareness. For example, over the May holiday, about a dozen supporters from all over China organized a study-tour to the Western Fuxin school, and Shanghai supporters have in the past sold saplings in the city to raise funds for the Anhui Fuxin school.

Financial constraints and a sincere appreciation for like-minded individuals mean that volunteers are generally welcomed and have played an important role in these schools. However, in light of the controversy now surrounding "celebrity educational volunteer" Yin Yongchun, willingness to serve may no longer be a sufficient criterion of suitability. It remains to be seen what effect this scandal will have on the schools" volunteer policies.

The essential challenge remains adapting idealistic goals and values, and the methods to achieve them, to address local educational needs. It is too soon to say whether these schools will survive, much less serve as replicable models. Yet the move from passive sympathy to personal action and participation has already been made - showing that civil society may yet have a significant role in reforming rural education in China.