“La Florida” 1513-2013 – in St. Augustine, Florida

March 25, 2013 – PRESS RELEASE (Washington, D.C.; St. Augustine, FL; Gainesville, FL; Tampa, FL, Miami, FL)

Students and alumni from throughout the state of Florida of the Fulbright Scholarship Program – the most prestigious academic grant program sponsored by the United States government – will converge on St. Augustine, Florida, the weekend of April 5-7, 2013, to mark the 500^th anniversary of the landing on the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon on our shores and the naming of our state "La Florida.”  A morning session on April 6 at Flagler College in St. Augustine – co-sponsor of the weekend’s event along with the three non-profit Fulbright Association chapters in Florida (North, Mid, and South Florida) – will count among the speakers Dr. William T. Abare, Jr., president of Flagler College; The Honorable Javier Pagalday Gastelurrutia, Deputy Consul General of Spain for the Southeast; Dr. Thomas Graham, Professor of History at Flagler College, who will give the keynote address on the 500^th anniversary of Florida; Mrs. Betty Castor, member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and past president of the University of South Florida and former Florida Commissioner of Education; and Ms. Shaz Akram, Director of Chapter Relations of the Fulbright Association, Washington, D.C..  Among the other weekend activities will be special tours of Flagler College’s Hotel Ponce de Leon, celebrating its 125^th anniversary this year, and the Spanish Castillo de San Marcos, one of the jewels of our National Park Service.  The weekend will also include lunch on Saturday at the splendid dining hall of Flagler College and a reception Saturday night hosted by Flagler College at the historic Markland House.

The state of Florida and its universities, both public and private, host Fulbright Scholarship recipients who represent some of the brightest young minds from around the world who come to our state to study and conduct academic research at the graduate level thanks to the support of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State.  For the year 2012-2013, Florida welcomed 60 foreign Fulbright students from 25 countries from around the world.  These young men and women, chosen to come to Florida universities through a rigorous competitive merit process, add their skills and prestige not only to our state’s institutions of higher learning but also impact our own Florida undergraduate university students who oftentimes study under their guidance. In the past five years, 259 Fulbright graduate student grantees have come to the state of Florida and studied at eight public and six private universities throughout the state.  Every year as well, Florida graduate students enrolled at universities throughout our state compete for Fulbright grants, and they travel abroad to study and conduct research at foreign universities since the Fulbright Scholarship Program is a true reciprocal academic exchange program.  For the year 2012-2013, a total of 61 students attending Florida universities received Fulbright Scholarship grants to study and conduct academic research abroad.

The Fulbright Scholarship Program, established in 1946 by the United States Congress and named after its sponsor Senator J. William Fulbright (1905-1995) from Arkansas, envisioned mutual understanding among the peoples of the world through education and open lines of communication.  It is only fitting that, on the occasion of Florida’s 500^th anniversary marking an event which inserted Florida into an expanding globalization process and which introduced our state to a social diversity which enriches it down to the present, Flagler College and the Fulbright Association join with our young foreign guests and the people of Florida in commemorating that epic voyage 500 years ago of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON

FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION: Contact Ms. Shaz Akram (Shaz.akram@fulbright.org)

NORTH FLORIDA CHAPTER, FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION: Contact Carlos Maeztu (maeztu@gmail.com)

MID-FLORIDA CHAPTER, FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION: Contact Darlene DeMarie (reggioprof1@gmail.com)

SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER, FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATION: Contact Jesus Mendez (jmendez@mail.barry.edu)

FLAGLER COLLEGE: Contact Tom Iacuzio (TIacuzio@flagler.edu)