We are excited to share important news affecting the Fulbright community worldwide. On the 22nd of May, the Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board unveiled a rebranding of the Fulbright Program, with a new logo and mission-driven language.

In coordination with all Fulbright-related organizations around the world, the Fulbright Association is joining this effort, and we are pleased to share our new logo.  You will find this now on our website and all social media channels.  Over the coming days, all of our chapters will make the same transition.

Why is this happening?  The new logo is part of a wider effort to put the Fulbright’s mission front and center, conveying the Program’s prestige without being elitist.  The messaging and the logo emphasize the impact on mutual understanding, the exchange of knowledge and solutions to complex global challenges.

How did we get here?  The State Department and its partners have spent several years developing this rebranding, interviewing over 100 Fulbrighters, educators and others worldwide, surveying over 1,000 U.S. college students, and analyzing Fulbright’s coverage in the U.S. media.

We hope that you are excited by this rebranding and the new logos for Fulbright and the Fulbright Association.  You can celebrate by getting your new Fulbright t-shirt, and catching up with Nan McEntire, as “Nan Rides for Fulbright” across the U.S—sporting the new brand!

You can also celebrate by taking action right now to ensure Fulbright’s continued funding by Congress.  If you haven’t signed the petition, do that right now.  If you have, but didn’t send a quick email, then click here to contact Congress.  Both will take just a minute and help ensure the future of Fulbright!

The Fulbright Association mourns the passing of Richard Lugar, former Indiana senator and the 2016 recipient of the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding. Senator Lugar was known for his leadership in foreign policy, his bipartisanship approach to decision-making, and his passion for pursuing global citizenship. His political career, marked with compassion and pragmatism, won him the respect and friendship of Republicans and Democrats alike.

As a Fulbright Prize laureate, the Association recognized Lugar’s support of international diplomacy. Serving as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1985-87 and again from 2003-07, Senator Lugar occupied the position that Senator Fulbright himself once held. In response to the attacks on September 11, 2001, he co-sponsored the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Study Program, which awards scholarships to students from countries with significant Muslim populations to study in the United States. He was a strong supporter of nuclear nonproliferation, and co-sponsored the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.

“It’s important because the Program is fundamental, not only to the foreign policy of the United States, but to the building of relationships among nations,” said Senator Lugar on his strong support for the Fulbright Program. “The opportunity for students – who are going to be leaders – to be in other environments, to understand different disciplines, different histories, is a remarkable explosion of talent and interest. The momentum of this must continue.”

He was awarded the Prize in a ceremony that was followed by the opening ceremony of the 2016 annual conference in Washington, DC. Representative Joaquin Castro (Texas District 20) attended to give a speech in his honor. The Prize recognizes and rewards outstanding contributions toward bringing peoples, cultures, or nations to greater understanding of others. Other awardees include South African president Nelson Mandela, United States president Jimmy Carter, Secretary-General to the United Nations Kofi Annan, and most recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“When he walked across the stage at our 2016 conference, Richard Lugar carried with him the seriousness of purpose that characterized his work and a vision of  hope, like that of Senator Fulbright, that we could shape a better world,” said Nancy Neill, who presented the Prize to Senator Lugar as the 2016 President of the Fulbright Association.

Among Senator Lugar’s many other accolades, former president Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Along with Senator Joe Biden, his partner on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, received the Crescent of Pakistan in recognition for his multifaceted support for Pakistan in 2008. In 2005, the American Foreign Service Association awarded him the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. His legacy continues in the Lugar Center, a nonprofit and bipartisan public policy institution established to provide research-based advice on some of the issues most important to the senator: global food security, the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, foreign aid effectiveness, and bipartisan governance.

Senator Lugar will be remembered as a dear friend to the Fulbright community.

–Alison Aadland

“My Fulbright in 2010 in Ireland was an outstanding experience,” says Nan McEntire. “I want to make sure that Fulbright continues to provide a strong and viable professional program for teachers and scholars throughout the world.”

Nan’s route across the United States

Many Fulbright alumni share Nan’s passion for promoting and protecting the Program. But not many go through such great lengths – literally – to do it. To raise money and awareness for the Fulbright Association’s mission, Nan plans to cycle coast-to-coast across America in a six-week journey. She will meet Fulbrighters and other friends of the Program along the 3400-mile trip.

At 72 years of age, Nan is a veteran cyclist. “A bicycle has been my number one mode of transportation for most of my life,” she says. “I rode a bike to Indiana State University for all of my teaching years because I was to cheap too pay for an annual parking permit, and I also ride everywhere here in Salt Lake City.”

As the President of the Utah Chapter of the Association, Nan also is serious about giving back to the Program from which she received so many priceless experiences. She has led the Chapter through a range of activities, from potlucks to hikes in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Nan is riding with CrossRoads Cycling, an organization that gives participants the option of raising money for non-profit causes of their choice. Her cycling team will embark from Los Angeles on May 11, and plan to finish their long journey on June 29 when they ride into Boston. As they pass through 15 different states, covering an average of 90 miles per day, the group will take in the local sites and landmarks.

Would you like to support Nan’s ride? Click here to make a pledge. All donations will go directly to the Fulbright Association.

–Alison Aadland

[cv_button text=”Support Nan’s Ride for Fulbright” url=”https://fulbrightassociation.rallyup.com/nanridesforfulbright?target=blank” size=”large” style=”filled” color=”content” custom_color=”” icon_position=”before” icon=”bicycle”]