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His legislation establishing the Fulbright Program slipped through the Senate without debate in 1946. Its first participants went overseas in 1948, funded by war reparations and foreign loan repayments to the United States. The Fulbright exchange program’s impact around the world is demonstrated by the more than 300,000 Fulbright grantees who have participated. Many have made significant contributions within their countries and advanced the goal of increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries throughout the world.
In 1949, Senator Fulbright became a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From 1959 to 1974, he chaired the committee, becoming its longest serving chairman in history. His Senate career was marked by some notable cases of dissent. In 1954, he was the only Senator to vote against an appropriation for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was chaired by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. He lodged serious objections to President Kennedy in advance of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Senator Fulbright was also a powerful voice in the chaotic times of the war in Vietnam, when he chaired Senate hearings on United States policy and conduct of the war.
In 1963, Walter Lippmann wrote of Senator Fulbright: "The role he plays in Washington is an indispensable role. There is no one else who is so powerful and also so wise, and if there were any question of removing him from public life, it would be a national calamity."Senator Fulbright was educated at the University of Arkansas and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1925. He then attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and received a master’s degree. He studied law at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. During the 1930's, he served in the Justice Department and was an instructor at the George Washington University Law School. In 1936, he returned to Arkansas to lecture in law. From 1939 to 1941, he served as the president of the University of Arkansas and was at that time the youngest university president in the country.Senator Fulbright was of counsel to the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) after leaving the Senate. He encouraged the founding of the Fulbright Association and remained active in support of the international exchange program that bears his name.
In 1993, President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Senator Fulbright at the Fulbright Association’s 88th Birthday Tribute Dinner in his honor. He received many other awards from governments, universities, and educational organizations around the world for his efforts on behalf of education and international understanding.
J. William Fulbright was born on April 9, 1905, in Sumner, Missouri, and died on Feb. 9, 1995, at the age of 89. He entered politics in 1942 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, entering Congress in January 1943 and becoming a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In September of that year, he gained national attention when the House adopted the Fulbright Resolution supporting international peace-keeping machinery. In November 1944, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and served there from 1945 through 1974, becoming one of the most influential and best-known members of the Senate.
Named the Ford Foundation’s director, social justice philanthropy in 2009, Ms. Siskel was previously based in Jakarta as the Foundation’s representative for Indonesia from 1990 to 2005. Prior to that, she had been the Foundation’s representative for the Philippines and a program officer for rural poverty and resources in Jakarta.
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Before relocating to the Ford Foundation’s headquarters in New York City, she had lived and worked in Indonesia for three decades, first as a Luce Scholar at Airlangga University in East Java from 1974 to 1975 and later as a Fulbright scholar from 1983 to 1984 for research on the island of Madura. Ms. Siskel was a social science advisor to development projects in west Timor and Flores islands in eastern Indonesia before joining the Ford Foundation in Jakarta in 1990. Previous research projects took her to northeast Brazil, Andros Island in the Bahamas, and highland Chiapas in the 1970s. She studied social anthropology at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Siskel has served on the Fulbright Association’s Board of Directors since 2004.
Chairman of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board from 1995 to 1998, Mr. Purvis directs the international relations major at the University of Arkansas and is professor of journalism and adjunct professor of political science. He served as director of the Fulbright Institute of International Relations at Arkansas from 1982 to 2000.
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Before joining the Arkansas faculty, he taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Earlier in his career, he worked as a staff member in the U.S. Senate and was press secretary and special assistant to Senator J. William Fulbright and foreign/defense policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd. He served on the presidentially-appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which oversees the Fulbright program, from 1993 to 2003. He is a newspaper columnist and frequent television commentator on politics and public affairs. Mr. Purvis holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Texas and also did graduate study at the University of Nancy (France) and Vanderbilt University.
Admitted to the Louisiana State Bar in 1983, Ms. Krebs graduated first in her undergraduate class from East Texas State University in 1973 and obtained her master’s degree in 1976 and her doctoral degree in 1980 from Tulane University, having completed her graduate studies on a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship in Spain.
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She was a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of Tulane Law School and was a member of the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Patricia served on the Board of Editors of the “Tulane Maritime Lawyer” and was the managing editor of the 1982-1983 edition. She has published several articles and is a member of the Louisiana, Texas, Federal, and American Bar Associations, the Maritime Law Association, the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, and the American Inns of Court. She has been selected as a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and has served on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and New Orleans Bar Association, the Board of Governors of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the House of Delegates of the Louisiana State Bar Association. She currently is president of the New Orleans Bar Association and secretary of the Louisiana Bar Foundation. She is listed in “Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel 2010,” as well as in “Louisiana Super Lawyers 2010.” She has served as chair of the Board of Directors of the Lighthouse for the Blind, as president of the World Affairs Council of New Orleans, and as president of the Louisiana Chapter of the Fulbright Association.
Founder of Capital Resolution, LLC, a firm that provides interim management and operations improvement services, Mr. Ausura has more than 25 years experience as a senior executive in Fortune 100 and mid-cap companies, with special expertise in designing and executing strategies that enhance value for shareholders and in returning underperforming companies to long-term health.
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His corporate experience includes CertainTeed Corporation, General Foods, Campbell Soup, Sunshine Biscuits, PNC Bank, Godiva Chocolates, Day Runner, Outsource International, Talent Tree, Bell Sports, and Airwalk International. He has held positions as chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. In addition, he is presently an executive-in-residence with Navigation Capital Partners, an Atlanta-based private equity firm. Mr. Ausura currently serves at the Fulbright Association’s treasurer. He earned his master's of business administration degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor's degree from the University of Scranton. He was a Fulbright fellow in Germany in 1975.
Artist Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental public sculptures animated by natural forces like wind, water, and sunlight. Her Richmond Skating Oval commissioned for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics takes run-off water from the facility’s two-acre roof and transforms it into a water garden. Major U.S. commissions include the two-city-block Phoenix Civic Space wind sculpture and the Hoboken September 11th Memorial Island in the Hudson River.
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Her sculpture and exhibitions have been produced throughout the world. In 2005, Ms. Echelman permanently installed a 160-foot-tall knotted wind sculpture on the coast of Porto, Portugal. “Sculpture Magazine” called it “one of the truly significant public artworks in recent years.” A Harvard College graduate, Ms. Echelman has graduate degrees in painting and in psychology. In 1996, she received a Fulbright award to teach painting at India’s National Institute of Design, a pivotal artistic experience that marked her change from painting to sculpture.
As president of Citibank California, Ms. Macieira-Kaufmann is responsible for the bank’s branches in California and Nevada, providing a full range of financial service products. Before Citibank, she was executive vice president and small business segment manager at Wells Fargo. Prior to that, she spent three years at Providian Financial, serving the last year as vice president of customer marketing, and was senior engagement manager at Retail Solutions Management Consultants in London, England. She graduated cum laude from Brown University, earning her bachelor’s degree in semiotics.
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She was a Fulbright fellow at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 1986 where she conducted research on the news coverage of the Chernobyl disaster. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Bay Area Council and the California Chamber of Commerce. She serves on the board of Congregation Emanu-El and is the treasurer; she is also past president of the board of directors of the Jewish Vocational Services in San Francisco and was a member of the Jewish Community Federation Board. She is a Wexner Heritage Foundation Fellow (2003-2005) and has been recognized for the past six years as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by “The San Francisco Business Times.”
Currently the chief investment officer for a Middle Eastern family, Mr. Montes was previously vice president and relationship manager with Union Bank of California. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, which he served from 1987 to 1998 as a patrol officer, training officer, detective trainee, and academy instructor.
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Taking leave from the LAPD, he spent 1996 as a Fulbright scholar at the London School of Economics. Mr. Montes examined the relationship between level of accountability and rank. Focusing his research on leadership traits in law enforcement, Mr. Montes explored the differences between the U.S. and U.K. systems. After leaving policing, Mr. Montes joined the banking industry and has also worked with Goldman Sachs and HSBC. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. Mr. Montes was appointed as commissioner to the Industrial Development Authority of the city of Los Angeles’s Community Development Department in November 2007 and currently chairs the authority.
As a Fulbright fellow to Bangladesh in 2004, Mr. Nakagawa spent nine months piloting a health insurance program for the rural poor. Since returning to the United States, he has been actively involved in the National Capital Area Chapter (NCAC) of the Fulbright Association. He was elected to NCAC’s executive board in 2006, served as treasurer in 2007-08, and as president in 2008-09. During his term as president, the chapter held over 30 events including social activities, community service, and a gala at the Swedish Embassy.
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Mr. Nakagawa is passionate about strengthening the Fulbright community at the local, national, and international levels. He is interested in empowering Fulbright Association chapters and coordinating with sister alumni associations around the world to share best practices and to foster a more connected global network of Fulbright alumni. He is also interested in encouraging young Fulbright alumni to get more involved in chapter activities and to take leadership roles in the Fulbright Association. Mr. Nakagawa recently left his position as a policy analyst at the Congressional Budget Office to begin study at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Cornell University in 2004.
A writer and consultant with a background in business and a lifelong affinity for the arts, Ms. Neill facilitates management discussions of vision, values and strategy, coaches leaders in presence, and writes articles and speeches for CEOs and executive directors of NGOs. She spent six years with McKinsey & Company, Inc., before she founded the Atlanta Communications Group, LLC, which provides facilitation, writing, and training in such areas as presence and storytelling for leaders. She has appeared as guest lecturer in communication for Emory University's Goizueta Business School and for Georgia State University.
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Ms. Neill has also served a number of nonprofits, including CARE, the Carter Center, and the New York Blood Center. For clients, she has written articles that have appeared in “The Wall Street Journal” and “Harvard Business Review” and in dozens of industry publications. Under her own name she is an award-winning short story writer, co-author of the book “Real Collaboration: What it Takes for Global Health to Succeed,” and author of a book on local history, “More than Bricks and Mortar.” Ms. Neill is a past president of the Georgia Chapter of the Fulbright Association and has a master’s degree in English literature from the University of California. She was a Fulbright fellow in New Zealand in 1963.
Professor emerita of education at Sonoma State University and visiting professor at Stanford, Dr. Neves received her doctorate in education from Stanford University in 1984. Born and reared in California, Dr. Neves completed her undergraduate education in Mexico D.F., Mexico, and received a bachelor's degree in international relations and Latin American studies. She studied cultural anthropology and early childhood education on a full scholarship from the Mexican American Education Project and received her master's degree in social sciences from Sacramento State University.
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Dr. Neves has taught at the American School Foundation secondary school in Mexico City and the Stanford University School of Education and served as consultant for education projects in several states and countries. In 1997 and in 2002, Dr. Neves received Fulbright-Hays fellowships to study issues of globalization in the education systems of Tanzania and Uganda. She continues work in both countries and in 2005 returned to the North Mara district of Tanzania to collect data and to follow up on the construction of five classrooms and teachers' houses she had underwritten. She is a member of the board of the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation and Scripps College and serves on the advisory boards of the Stanford University School of Education, and the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna College.
As president and CEO of Strategic Investment Group, Ms. Ochoa-Brillembourg leads an investment and management group which designs and implements global investment strategies for large institutions and individual investors. The group manages over U.S. $38 billion, as of September 30, 2009, for investors in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Ms. Brillembourg is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and received her master’s in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where she was a Fulbright fellow from Venezuela.
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She has completed all but the dissertation requirement for a doctorate in finance at Harvard Business School. Ms. Ochoa-Brillembourg also serves as managing director of Emerging Markets Management L.L.C. and is a member of the Boards of Directors of General Mills; McGraw-Hill Companies; Harvard Management Company; The Atlantic Council of the United States; The Group of 50 at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and The Washington Opera. She serves on the Advisory Committees of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the CFA Institute Research Foundation. She is founding chairman of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In 2005, Ms. Ochoa-Brillembourg was selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Medal by the Fulbright Association.
Founding president of the Houston/SouthEast Texas Chapter of the Fulbright Association, Dr. Penn is associate professor in the Departments of Criminology and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He leads annual study abroad and service-learning trips to Egypt, where he was a Fulbright scholar in 2005, teaching American criminal justice at Cairo University.
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He is the author of numerous articles and books on homeland security, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and teaching methodologies. He currently chairs the American Society of Criminology’s Division on People of Color and Crime. He also serves on the Houston Advisory Board of the United Negro College Fund. His consulting firm, Penn Consulting, assists clients in homeland security, criminal justice, and diversity issues. He served in the United States Army Reserve as a logistics officer from 1990 to 2004. Dr. Penn received his doctorate in criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his master’s degree from the University of Central Texas, and his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.
An ex-officio, nonvoting member of the Board of Trustees and chairperson of the 2006-2007 session of the City University of New York (CUNY) University Faculty Senate, Dr. Philipp is professor and past department chair of chemistry at Lehman College and professor in the biochemistry and chemistry doctoral programs at the CUNY Graduate Center. As a Fulbright scholar in 2005, Dr. Philipp taught bioinformatics and biopharmaceutics at the Catholic University of Portugal.
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He received his doctorate in biochemistry from Northwestern University and his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Michigan Technological University. Dr. Philipp has been program director for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported, research-based student support programs Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS), Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), and the High School Summer Research Apprentice Program. He was co-program director of the NIH-supported Bridges to the Baccalaureate at Bronx Community College and Lehman College. He has also served as national president of the MBRS/MARC Program Directors Organization.
A collegiate professor in distance education for the University of Maryland University College-Adelphi, Dr. Schmider combines academic administration, teaching, and extensive service on nonprofit boards. She is graduate dean emerita at Minnesota State University Moorhead. As a Fulbright lecturer in 1997 in the People’s Republic of China, she taught graduate courses in American poetry and literary criticism at Lanzhou University, Gansu Province.
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Under a Fulbright lectureship in 2005-2006, she served at Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia. She has served as chair of the Minnesota Humanities Commission. Her board service also includes Lutheran Brotherhood, now Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the Executive Committee of the Board for Higher Education and Schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Chippewa (Wis.) Falls School Foundation. She holds a doctoral degree in American studies from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
From 1983 to 2002, Dr. Sievers served as executive director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund in San Francisco. He is adjunct professor at the Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at the University of San Francisco and a visiting scholar and lecturer at Stanford University.
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His work in philanthropy has included serving on the board of directors of the Council on Foundations and participating in Council on Foundations delegations to the Soviet Union and the Baltics. He continues his professional involvement in philanthropy as senior fellow with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and as consulting director with the Skirball Foundation. Dr. Sievers holds a bachelor's degree in international relations and master's and doctoral degrees in political science from Stanford University. He studied at the Freie Universitaet Berlin as a Fulbright scholar. His book “Civil Society, Philanthropy and the Fate of the Commons,” recently published by Tufts University Press, concerns civil society and the relationship between the public and the private.
A partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, Mr. Vogel serves as a principal in the firm’s Business Group and specializes in international corporate finance. His clients include U.S.- and foreign-based corporations and financial institutions doing business throughout the world, particularly in Europe and in the Middle East. Mr. Vogel has spoken and written on a variety of international financial issues and trends, including the increasing utilization throughout the world of Islamic financing for large-scale projects.
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Mr. Vogel received his bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Vogel was a Fulbright fellow in Brussels, Belgium, in 1968, where he was a stagiaire at the European Union and served as an assistant to the EU’s chief legal counsel. Mr. Vogel has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Association’s National Capital Area Chapter.
Katherine E. White is from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Princeton University, a law degree from the University of Washington, and an LL.M. degree from the George Washington University Law School. Her first professional position as a lawyer was as a member of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, otherwise known as JAG.
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After leaving active duty in the army, Prof. White was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Randall R. Rader, circuit judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Presently, she is a professor of law at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, where she specializes in patent law. She is a registered patent attorney. Prof. White currently serves as member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. She continues to serve as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. She is currently the reserve associate dean of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (JAG) located at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She was a Fulbright senior scholar and a White House fellow.
Maurizio Gianturco was a member of the Fulbright Association’s Board of Directors from 1989 to 1995, serving as vice president for administration in 1992 and in 1993 and as president in 1994 and in 1995. He received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Rome in 1951 and served there as assistant professor in 1952.
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In 1953, he was a Fulbright postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Illinois where he continued as a senior research associate from 1954 to 1956. In 1957, he joined The Coca-Cola Company, eventually rising to senior vice president. Dr. Gianturco was instrumental in securing The Coca-Cola Foundation’s support for the Fulbright Prize, which continued from 1993 throug 2008. As president of the Fulbright Association, he presented the Fulbright Prize to the 1994 laureate, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and to the 1995 laureate, former Austrian Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.
