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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.

FEBRUARY 17, 2005 EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
by Jennifer Brigham

WEEKLY EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
(A weekly supplement to John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press Review.)

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 MS. JENNIFER BRIGHAM, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

A) USG–FUNDED EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION B FOR OTHER TOPICS)

1.  SCHOOL GETS URUGUAYAN ACCENT - JEFF GILL (Gainesville Times, GA - Feb 11, 2005): Silvana Blanco talked about winter weather in July, traveling by motorbike and rugby with fifth-graders at Fair Street Elementary School. It was the sort of connection between cultures that is central to the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Teacher and Administrator Exchange Special Initiative Program. Fair Street is one of 11 schools around the country pairing up with Uruguay in the program. After the U.S. visits are completed, Uruguay will invite 22-25 American educators to its country for a July visit, Principal Merrianne Dyer said. LINK

2.  WORLD’S FIRST SERVICE ORGANIZATION REACHES CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY; ROTARY CELEBRATES WITH PBS DOCUMENTARY IN BIRTHPLACE OF CHICAGO (PR Newswire (press release) - Feb 16, 2005):CHICAGO—Chicago’s Rotary One, the world’s first service organization and the founding club of Rotary International, with its 1.2 million members in 166 countries, will celebrate its centennial with a documentary produced by filmmaker Rick Roberts to air Thursday, February 24, 2005 at 7PM on WYCC-Channel 20 in Chicago.  It will air nationally in the near future. The actual anniversary, Wednesday, February 23, will be recognized with a black-tie ball at the Chicago Hilton & Towers that honors Harriet M. Fulbright, Ambassador of the Fulbright Scholarships. Roberts says, “The documentary explores Rotary’s simple beginnings in 1905 when four businessmen led by attorney Paul Harris purchased a horse for a physician to make house calls to the poor to an international organization attempting to wipe out polio in the third world.” LINK

3.  ALLEN WEINSTEIN BECOMES NINTH ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES (U.S. Newswire (press release), DC - Feb 16, 2005): WASHINGTON-- Dr. Allen Weinstein, a noted scholar and professor of history and a recognized leader in global democracy issues, was sworn in as the ninth Archivist of the United States… At the swearing-in ceremony, Dr. Weinstein said, “…Under National Archivists during both Republican and Democratic presidencies, the tradition of non-political and highest professional attention to the work involved has been the norm. It will continue to be so on my watch, as will an effort to deepen the interaction with Congress and with other government agencies...” (Dr. Weinstein has held two Senior Fulbright Lectureships, served as a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the American Council of Learned Societies, and was a Commonwealth Fund Lecturer at the University of London, among other awards and fellowships.)
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4.  PANEL ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO PURSUE FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP - VENUGOPALAN ANANTHARAMAKUMAR (Daily O’Collegian, OK - Feb 10, 2005): Steve Hallgren, president of the North Central Oklahoma chapter of the Fulbright Association, hosted the event, attended by students and representatives from different organizations. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2005 is celebrated as “The Year of Languages” in the United States. “The theme for this month is international engagement,” said Hallgren. “About 1,100 American students study abroad every year under the Fulbright program. Our efforts (are) to expose more OSU students to the opportunity.” LINK

5.  POV: ENGLISH TEACHER’S TRIP TO POLAND RESULTS IN CULTURAL EMBRACE- BART MARVIN (New York Teacher, NY - Feb 15, 2005): The U.S. Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program has sent Bart Marvin to western Poland, and a young Polish woman and her husband to New York’s capital region for a one-year exchange.  Bart describes his experience and concludes: “Hopefully, through experiences like this and others like the Fulbright Program, we can live up to Twain’s expectations and instill in our youth an appreciation for embracing other cultures, especially since we all were once part of those other cultures.” LINK

6.  HEARST ART GALLERY PRESENTS SANDOW BIRK’S PARADISO (Art Daily - Feb 13, 2005): MORAGA, CA.- The Hearst Art Gallery presents Sandow Birk’s Paradiso, the third installment of a remarkable update on Dante Alighieri’s early 14th century epic poem about the human condition, through February 27, 2005. Birk, a southern California artist, collaborated with Surfline web editor and Surfing Magazine writer Marcus Sanders to infuse Dante’s text with a contemporary urban vernacular. (Birk is a recipient of Fulbright, Getty, and Guggenheim Fellowships and National Endowment for the Arts grants.) LINK

7.  QUEEN ELIZABETH GRANTS KNIGHTHOOD TO 1955 KU GRADUATE ROBERT (Kansas City infoZine, MO - Feb 15, 2005): Lawrence, Kansas - Queen Elizabeth II has named the 1955 KU graduate and Kansas City, Mo., native a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of exceptional achievements and services to Britain. He lived in Leawood before moving to Britain in 1969 and founded Market & Opinion Research Internati (Among many other accomplishments, he was a member the Fulbright Commission.) LINK

8.  NEW PARASITE NAMED AFTER AUGIE PROFESSOR - ANN MCGLYNN (Quad City Times, IA - Feb 12, 2005): Acanthobothrium larsoni, discovered in the bowels of a stingray, has been named after the retired Augustana professor by a former student who is earning his doctoral degree in the study of parasites.  A parasitology class taught by Larson helped spark a passion in Florian Reyda, who took the class at Augustana in the mid-1990s. Reyda’s research focuses primarily on parasites found in stingrays. He will be leaving for South America later this month on a Fulbright scholarship to study parasites in stingrays that live in rivers there and comparing them with stingrays that live in salt water. LINK

9.  CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO CREATIVE NEW ZEALAND-FULBRIGHT PACIFIC WRITER- RESIDENCY AT UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII- MEDIA RELEASE (Arts Calendar, New Zealand - Feb 10, 2005): Creative New Zealand and Fulbright New Zealand are calling for applications to their residency for New Zealand writers of Pacific Islands heritage, based at the Centre for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaii for three months from late August 2005. The 2005 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers’ Residency at the University of Hawaii is open to Pacific writers across all genres, including playwrights, fiction and non-fiction writers, poets and screen writers. The residency includes return airfares, accommodation costs and an artist stipend of NZ$6000 per month. LINK

10.  MOLLY PIERCE NAMED ST. JOE’S TOP PRINCIPAL- MEREDITH HINES-DOCHTERMAN (St. Joseph News Press, MO - Feb16, 2005): Nominated for the award nine times, Ms. Pierce never received the top prize of the annual PTA Founder’s Day dinner-- until Tuesday night. In 1997, Ms. Pierce was the district’s Distinguished Principal of the Year, and she was named J. William Fulbright Scholar by the U.S. State Department in 2003. As a Fulbright scholar, Ms. Pierce participated in the Teacher and Administration Exchange Program, traveling to Argentina last summer to experience the country’s elementary education system. LINK

B) OTHER NEWS ON EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE ISSUES

11.  RICE SETS OUT ADMINISTRATION’S FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDGET PRIORITIES (AllAfrica.com, Africa - February 16, 2005): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used President Bush’s $33.6 billion funding request for various international affairs programs in 2006 to give senators an overview of the administration’s foreign policy priorities. Encouraging political pluralism, economic openness and the growth of civil society throughout the broader Middle East, North Africa, and other majority-Muslim countries is a critical challenge, Rice told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during fiscal year 2006 budget hearings February 16.  To advance that mission, the president is seeking increased funding for diplomatic and assistance activities in the region, including $120 million for the Middle East Partnership Initiative, $40 million for the National Endowment for Democracy, and $180 million for outreach to Muslim populations through educational and cultural exchanges and other public diplomacy efforts, the secretary said.for full text of secretary’s remarks go to LINK or
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12.  US CULTURAL AMBASSADOR BERNIE WILLIAMS VISITS VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA (All American Patriots (press release), Sweden - Feb 12, 2005): Bernie Williams, star centerfielder for the New York Yankees and newly selected U.S. Department of State Cultural Ambassador, is traveling to Venezuela and Colombia for his inaugural CultureConnect trip, starting February 11. He will conduct baseball clinics with young baseball players in Caracas, Venezuela, before traveling to Cartegena and Baranquilla in Colombia, to lead additional baseball clinics. In addition to the baseball events, Williams, who is an accomplished jazz and Latin guitarist, will perform with the Etnia Latin Jazz Band at the Uni Norte Auditorium in Baranquilla. LINK

13.  US SPONSORS PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN IN EUROPE AND EURASIA (All American Patriots (press release), Sweden - Feb 16, 2005): Following is a U.S. State Department fact sheet issued February 14 providing an outline of U.S. programs for women in Europe and Eurasia: LINK

14.  (STUDENT) EXCHANGE RATE FALLS - ROBERT STERN (Trenton Times, NJ - Feb 12, 2005):  About 39,000 foreign high school students were admitted to the United States on exchange program visas in the 1999-2000 school year. Four years later - in 2002-2003 - that number had fallen by 36 percent, according to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is unclear, however, if the decline has more to do with growing disinterest among Americans to host foreign students or with increased reluctance among foreigners to send their children to the United States. LINK

15.  STATE DEPT. EASES VISA CONDITIONS: CHANGE AIMS TO ENCOURAGE FOREIGN STUDENTS AND SCIENTISTS TO COME TO U.S. - KRISTEN A. LEE (The New York Times, Feb 15, 2005): WASHINGTON-- Responding to concerns that onerous visa requirements are discouraging foreign students and scientists from coming to the United States, the State Department has extended the time many of them can remain before renewing security clearances. The clearance is required for foreigners working in areas the government deems “sensitive.” “This change sends a clear message that the U.S. highly encourages those with great scientific minds to explore studying and working in our country,” Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security in the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
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