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John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

APRIL 12, 2005 EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
by Gordon Douglas

C) WEEKLY EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT

The following articles are related to educational and cultural exchange programs. Specific topics in this supplement include USG-funded exchange programs (e.g., Fulbright scholarships, Ron Brown Fellowship, International Visitors) as well as issues relating to student visas, study abroad, and NGOs involved in exchanges. The articles are aggregated weekly by MR. GORDON DOUGLAS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

C.1) USG–FUNDED EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION C.2 FOR OTHER TOPICS)

1. IS THE UNITED STATES LESS WELCOMING OF VISITING SCHOLARS? – CAROL PEARSON (VOA, APRIL 11, 2005): Sixty years after the Fulbright program was founded, some are wondering if the United States is less welcoming of visiting scholars. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States tightened its visa requirements for international students, instructors and researchers.  The tighter security and well-publicized cases of foreign professors whose visas were denied or revoked prompted some critics to ask if the United States was developing a fortress mentality.
LINK

2. FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS FOR PAKISTANI STUDENTS – ANI (NETINDIA123.COM, APRIL 6, 2005): The US announced a Fulbright Scholarship Program for Pakistani students, which could send more than 100 students to America for studies in higher education every year.  US Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker also announced a relaxation and simplification of procedures for issuance of student visas in the country.  The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Higher Education of Pakistan will jointly award scholarships to students from across the country based on merit.
LINK

3. SAMFORD PROF RECEIVES FULBRIGHT APPOINTMENT TO EGYPT – (I-NEWSWIRE.COM, APRIL 6, 2005): Samford assistant professor of French Mary McCullough received an appointment to the 2005 Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad Program for summer study in Egypt on “Multiple Perspectives on the Middle East, the Arab and Islamic Worlds.” Dr. McCullough will focus on the history of feminism and the women’s rights movement in Egypt and how this pertains to the wearing of the Islamic veil.  McCullough plans to incorporate the research she will conduct in Egypt into her Cultural Perspectives and World Languages and Cultures courses.
LINK

4. RENO CLIMATE CHANGE PROF WINS FULBRIGHT AWARD – ASSOCIATED PRESS (LOS VEGAS SUN, MARCH 29, 2005): Joseph McConnell, a scientist and professor who studies global climate change at the Desert Research Institute in Reno was given the award to collaborate with researchers in Argentina to study an ice core from the Antarctic Peninsula. McConnell, a hydrologist, has studied ice cores extracted from the polar regions of Antarctica and Greenland and specializes in alpine snow and snowmelt hydrology. As part of the grant, McConnell will give six seminars in Mendosa, Argentina on recent developments in U.S. research in developing historic environmental records.
LINK

5. ENGLISH PROFESSOR NAMED FULBRIGHT DISTINGUISHED CHAIR TO TEACH IN NETHERLANDS – NEWS RELEASE (MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, MARCH 29, 2005): Patrick O’Donnell, professor of English and chairperson of the Department of English at Michigan State University, has been named one of 36 winners in the 2005-06 Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program. He will hold the Walt Whitman Chair in American Culture Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.  Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program are among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Recipients are senior scholars with significant publication and teaching records.
LINK

6. LATIN AMERICAN STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN FULBRIGHT SEMINAR (PATRIOT NEWS, MARCH 19, 2005): Over two-dozen university students from across the Americas joined more than 100 other students from around the world to participate in a five-day Fulbright Foreign Student Enrichment Seminar in Washington. The Fulbright seminar, which opened March 16, is the fourth in a series of seminars sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and brings together more than 140 foreign students and U.S. students who have recently returned from a Fulbright year of study abroad.
LINK

7. US EMBASSY LINKS FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR TO LIBERIA – FORUM (MONROVIA FORUM (LIBERIA), DISTRIBUTED BY THE PERSPECTIVE (ATLANTA), MARCH 16, 2005): A Fulbright Scholar has arrived in Liberia for the first time in more than a decade on an outreach program that will center on higher education.  Dr. Wenda Bauchspies arrived in Liberia March 8 from neighboring Guinea where she currently serves at the University of Kankan as lecturer and researcher. She will be in Liberia, which does not at this time qualify to participate in the Fulbright Program as it did in the past, for more than two weeks as guest of the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Public Affairs.
LINK

8. FULBRIGHT STUDENTS EXAMINE US SOCIETY IN SEMINAR SERIES (PATRIOT NEWS, MARCH 15, 2005): In a series of seminars taking place across the country, Fulbright students currently studying in the United States have the opportunity to discuss a range of issues facing American society, including diversity, immigration, national security and changes in the American West. Approximately 140 foreign students are participating in each of the Fulbright Enrichment Seminars, which are sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
LINK

9. SPECIAL NOTE: EVENTS SCHEDULED TO COMMEMORATE FULBRIGHT CENTENNIAL: This week marks the 100th birthday of Senator J. William Fulbright, who was born April 9, 1905.  Fulbright was elected to the U.S. Senate from his home state of Arkansas in 1941.  He spent 30 years on Capital Hill, 15 of them as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, where he introduced legislation that led to the formation of both the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the United Nations. He is, of course, most remembered around the world as the author of the famed Fulbright Scholarship Program, created in 1946 to foster mutual understanding among nations through the exchange of knowledge. Today the program has provided funding for more than 255,000 participants to travel and study abroad.  Special events are scheduled throughout the month and the year, in Arkansas and around the world.
The Arkansas Traveler LINK
The Morning News (Arkansas) LINK
Northwest Arkansas Times LINK
German Fulbright Alumni Assoc. LINK

C.2) OTHER NEWS ON EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE ISSUES

10. JAPANESE MINISTRY EYES ODA FOR CARTOONS ABROAD – TETSUYA WATANABE (ASAHI SHIMBUN, APRIL 11, 2005): The Japanese Foreign Ministry is considering offering official development assistance (ODA) to help TV stations in other countries obtain broadcast rights for popular Japanese animated cartoons. Japan’s commercial animation programs, or anime, are growing in popularity around the world. A recent ministry survey of its diplomatic corps in various countries showed a jump in the number of people who began studying Japanese thanks to a growing interest in anime, and found that promoting it could help foster a positive image of Japan among young people in developing nations.  Latin American and African nations are expected to be given priority for the “anime aid.”
LINK

11. WHAT WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD: THE DANGER IN US-ARAB RELATIONS – EDWARD S. WALKER JR. (OPINION – SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, APRIL 10, 2005): For two years, scholars and experts from the Middle East Institute in Washington and the Al Ahram Center in Cairo worked together to examine the crisis in relations that divides us. We found significant common ground in our personal values and national goals. Yet the anger, frustration and disappointment that often marked our dialogue provided ample evidence of the stress that has developed between our societies.
LINK

12. NEW DRIVERS LICENSE LAWS HAVE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WORRIED – DAVID HANSEN (BYU DAILY UNIVERSE, APRIL 7, 2005): Recent driver’s license restrictions imposed by the Utah Legislature will complicate many international students’ lives both at BYU and abroad, said BYU Student International Advisor Miles Ogden. House Bill 223, the newly passed driver license regulation bill, will require all international visitors to the United States to obtain a driving privilege card, which will expire as soon as the individual’s visa expires. These temporary driving permits will not function as a valid form of identification at any government-regulated organization and with many businesses.
LINK

13. FRENCH CULTURAL FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN HONG KONG – XINHUANET (XINHUA NEWS, APRIL 7, 2005): The French Consul General in Hong Kong announced the 13th annual ‘Le French May 2005’ French cultural festival will be held in Hong Kong beginning May 1st this year.  It will be the largest of its kind since the festival was first held in 1993, as part of activities of the Year of France in China.  Since then, over 300 exchanges and international-level cultural activities have been held between the two countries.
LINK

14. US TO REQUIRE PASSPORTS AT BORDER ENTRY POINTS – PAUL RICHTER (LOS ANGELES TIMES, APRIL 6, 2005): The United States will require by 2008 that Americans show passports or other specialized documents to reenter the country from Mexico and Canada.  Recommended by the Sept. 11 commission in a move intended to counter terrorism, the restrictions would mean Americans would no longer be allowed to show only a driver’s license or a government-issued photo identification card. Similarly, Canadians, who have been able to enter the United States with a driver’s license, would need a passport.  Critics have contended that it would bring an end to a long relationship between the U.S. and Canada that allowed casual cross-border travel as a part of daily life.
LINK
LINK

15. INNOVATIVE TOURISM UNITES THREE RELIGIONS IN JERUSALEM – DAVID BRINN (THE JEWISH PRESS, APRIL 6, 2005): StartUp Jerusalem, a new non-profit organization founded to create jobs in Israel’s capital by increasing its attractiveness to businesses, is hoping to ease the plight of all the city’s 680,000 residents – Jews, Christians and Muslim Arabs – who have been hit hard by four years of violence. By identifying and focusing on Jerusalem’s cultural strengths the organization is proceeding according to techniques developed by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, who is honorary chairman.
LINK

16. US KEEN ON PROMOTING EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN – (PAKISTAN LINK, APRIL 4, 2005): United States Consul General in Karachi, Douglas Rohn, said the US is eager to contribute towards the promotion of education in Pakistan, a high-priority country in view of its geo-strategic location.  Dr. Grace Clark, Director of the US Education Foundation in Pakistan and Terry Steers-Gonzalez, Consular Officer of the US Embassy in Islamabad, were also present at the occasion.  Rohn pointed out that while most USAID money in Pakistan was aimed at primary education, some was also diverted to higher education, and noted that the organization was also planning to fund Master’s programs in the country.
LINK

17. SECRETARY RICE PROMOTES EDUCATION EXCHANGE – INTERVIEW (THE WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 25, 2005): When asked about improving public diplomacy efforts of the United States, Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice noted that the number of foreign students coming into the US is down, but that her department was putting more money into educational exchanges.  “We frankly have to do something to repair a perception that we have been less welcoming of students and less welcoming of foreigners because our visa policies – rightly after 9/11 – had to tighten,” she said.  She added that the president finds it really impressive when visiting with foreign governments that, “at least half of them have been to Texas A&M or the University of North Carolina or Harvard or some place, because that student exchange and foreign exchange and visitor exchange is just an extremely important part of getting our people there and people back.”
LINK

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