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Fulbright Alumni Rita Dove, Philip Glass, John D. Maguire and Ruth M. Owades to Receive Lifetime Achievement Medals

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 26, 2009) –The Fulbright Association awarded Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medals to poet Rita Dove, composer Philip Glass, educator and civil rights activist John D. Maguire, and entrepreneur Ruth M. Owades at a ceremony on May 12 attended by members of Congress, members of the diplomatic corps, State Department staff, and current and former Fulbright exchange participants.

The biennial event recognizes Fulbright alumni for their career achievements and civic, educational, and cultural contributions.  Fulbright Association President Suzanne Siskel noted that all honorees were creative leaders and were the products of strong liberal education.

Journalist Garrick Utley, who served as master of ceremonies, said the evening’s fifth “honoree” was the Fulbright Program itself and its unique role in shaping lives through international educational exchange.

“I am eternally grateful to [the] Fulbright [Program],” said poet Rita Dove.  “As a writer, I feel that I’ve been entrusted with humanity’s longing, all of those half dreams of hopes and half-swallowed fears and all of the hidden and lost stories.  And that I have been entrusted with them in order to bear them to the white space of the page and to fill the silence waiting to be filled.  I thank you for your faith in my ability to carry out that trust.” 
           
“So the [Fulbright grant] was the beginning … of the real traveling and the door that opened up a larger world for me,” said musician and composer Philip Glass. “And that is one of the great things about these awards, for the Americans that go abroad, but then again it works for the ones that come from abroad and come to live with us.”

 “My real adult life was formed in the decade bookended by our two Fulbrights, 1953 and 1964,” said John Maguire, president emeritus of Claremont Graduate University. “The two paths of our journey were set, scholarship—and later administration—and social justice activism.  An international context for our thinking and work was also set, forever”
           
“I’m pleased to tell you that at Harvard Business School today, more than 40 percent of the incoming class has a liberal arts education--and nearly 40 percent are women. And back at Scripps College – this year, 10 amazing young women were awarded Fulbright grants,” said entrepreneur Ruth Owades.  “My Fulbright year made an indelible impression on me. I will be forever grateful for it.”
           
The Fulbright Program is an international educational and cultural exchange initiative administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.  It was 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.

To return to the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal page, please click here