Tucson Standard

Pima is one of only four community colleges in the nation honored as a 2022 Fulbright HSI Leader.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs honored a total of 43 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) for their noteworthy engagement with the Fulbright Program during the 2021-2022 academic year. 

ECA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs Ethan Rosenzweig announced the 2022 Fulbright HSI Leaders on Oct. 10 during the annual conference of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

In his remarks, Rosenzweig noted the strong relationship between HSIs and the Fulbright Program stating, “The Fulbright Program’s success with HSIs is built on real collaboration with you and your institutions,” Rosenzweig said in announcing the honorees, according to the ECA news release.

The latest Pima Fulbright Scholar was Kristina Beckman, Ph.D., who taught English Writing in India this past spring.

Since Spring 2016, Pima has hosted five Fulbright Scholars in Residence, most recently from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022 when Patricia Mejia-Cairo from the Dominican Republic taught Culinary Arts. Pima also has hosted seven Outreach Lecture Fund Guest Lecturers, a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador presenter and two Russia International Education Administrators in Residence. In addition, two Pima employees were awarded through the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program.

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program sends American scholars and professionals abroad to lecture or conduct research for up to a year, according to the Fulbright news release. All faculty, adjunct and full-time employees can compete for Fulbright Awards.

ECA initiated the Fulbright HSI Leader designation in 2021 to acknowledge the strong partnerships between the Fulbright Program and HSIs, and to encourage all HSIs to increase their Fulbright engagement on campus. 

The ECA news release states that having strong HSI participation in the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program is critical to fully representing the diversity of the United States through the Program.

Since its inception more than 75 years ago, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 U.S. students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad, and their foreign counterparts to engage in similar activities in the United States. 

Original source can be found here.