Fulbright Alumni Craig R. Barrett, John Hope Franklin, and Shirley Strum Kenny Receive Lifetime Achievement Medals

            WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 9, 2007) – Craig R. Barrett, chairman of Intel Corporation, John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke professor emeritus of history at Duke University and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Shirley Strum Kenny, president of Stony Brook University were honored with 2007 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medals last night at the Fulbright Association’s 30^th anniversary dinner in Washington, D.C.

            “These distinguished Fulbright alumni have exhibited extraordinary leadership in their chosen fields and enriched the lives of their communities and our country through their educational, civic, and philanthropic activities,” said Marilyn Berg Callander, president of the Fulbright Association. 

            The Lifetime Achievement Medal is awarded biennially to Fulbright alumni whose career accomplishments and civic and educational contributions are judged to have expanded the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy, and perception.  Speaking at the event were Rep. John P. Sarbanes (MD-3rd), former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, journalist and filmmaker Renee Poussaint, and James H. Simons, president of Renaissance Technologies Corporation.  Fulbright alumna and 2007 National Geographic Emerging Explorer Mireya Mayor (Madagascar 2001) served as the evening’s master of ceremonies.  The evening also featured performances by pianist Quynh Nguyen (France 2004) and Stacey Mastrian (Italy 2002).

            Craig R. Barrett became chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation in 2005, after having served as president and then chief executive officer.  Dr. Barrett received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in materials science from Stanford University.  He was an associate professor in the university’s Materials Science and Engineering Department before taking a position with Intel in 1974.  Dr. Barrett was a Fulbright scholar in 1972 at the Danish Technical University.  He is a strong proponent of using technology to raise social and economic standards globally and chairs the United Nations’ Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development.  He is also a leading advocate for improving education in the United States and abroad and chairs the National Academy of Engineering.  He serves on a variety of other policy and civic boards.

            John Hope Franklin is the James B. Duke professor emeritus of history at Duke University.  An author and historian whose many appointments include the National Council on the Humanities, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, and the President’s Advisory Commission on Ambassadorial Appointments, Dr. Franklin chaired the Advisory Board for One America, and the President’s Initiative on Race in l998 and l999.  He graduated from Fisk University and received master’s and doctoral degrees in history from Harvard University.  Among many other foreign assignments, he was a Fulbright scholar in Australia and Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University.  Dr. Franklin has taught at Duke University, Howard University, the University of Chicago, and other institutions.  His most recent book is Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin.  His most popular book, From Slavery to Freedom:  A History of African-Americans, written in 1947, has sold more than 3.5 million copies. 

            A literary scholar, teacher, and academic administrator, Shirley Strum Kenny is the first woman to serve as president of Stony Brook University, where her leadership since 1994 has resulted in major increases in student enrollment, campus improvements, and business and community linkages.   Dr. Kenny holds bachelor’s degrees in English and journalism from the University of Texas, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago.  She was a Fulbright fellow to the United Kingdom in 1957.  In conjunction with Battelle Corporation, she established Brookhaven Science Associates in 1998 to administer Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S Department of Energy.  She currently chairs the Brookhaven Science Associates Board of Directors.  Dr. Kenny launched and chaired the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University, which published Reinventing Undergraduate Education in the Research University.  

            The Fulbright Association is a private, nonprofit organization of Fulbright alumni and friends committed to advancing international education and people-to-people diplomacy.  It has 51 chapters throughout the United States and collaborates with more than 70 sister Fulbright alumni organizations abroad.  The Fulbright Association inaugurated the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal in 2000 to recognize the important role Fulbright grantees have had in creating a better future for communities throughout the world. 

            Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal recipients in 2000 were Arlene Alda, children’s book author and photographer; Barbara Knowles Debs, former president of Manhattanville College and the New York Historical Society; and Richard A. Debs, founding president of Morgan Stanley International.  In 2002, Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline; Thomas R. Pickering, former under secretary of state for political affairs; and Ruth J. Simmons, president of Brown University, received medals.  In 2005, medal recipients were Rita E. Hauser, president of the Hauser Foundation; John Mendelsohn, president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; and Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, president and CEO of Strategic Investment Group.  All recipients are Fulbright alumni.  

            The Fulbright Program is an international educational and cultural exchange initiative created in 1946 by legislation sponsored by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.  There are Fulbright exchanges between the United States and more than 150 other countries.  There are more than 275,000 Fulbright alumni throughout the world.

-FA-