Feature: The Fulbright Experience

So, you might be wondering, what is this Fulbright program, anyway? And what does it involve beyond getting funding and resources to live in some foreign country? The Fulbright offices in the US and its partner countries (not to mention the international study offices at hundreds of colleges and universities) have plenty of official information, but all that stuff leaves a lot out about the actual experience. Sure, everyone's experience is different because everyone is doing different work or research. To a large extent, the Fulbright experience is what you make of it. But, there are are lot of commonalities about being a Fulbrighter.

But first, a quick background on the Fulbright program (unofficial, of course): it was started shortly after WW2 by Senator J. William Fulbright, who served on the congressional committee investigating the bombing of Hiroshima. In short, he decided that we should never let that happen again, and that the best way to never let it happen again was to provide an opportunity for our educated young to live in (not just visit) other countries... the better to participate in meaningful cultural exchange.

So, Senator Fulbright convinced Congress to take the money that our allies "owed" us for weapons and such before they were technically our allies (because we were trying to stay out of the war then), and use it to start an exchange program for recent college graduates.

Today, there are Fulbright exchanges between the US and over 40 other countries around the world. For the most part, Fulbright fellowships come in three types (although there are a handful of others beyond these): 1) senior scholar awards for faculty and career professionals, 2) research awards for recent college graduates, graduate students and young professionals in some fields, and 3) teaching awards, for recent college graduates interested in teaching English classes in non-English-speaking countries. For senior and research awards, applicants submit a research proposal for a project in their chosen country, along with letters of recommendation and assorted other supporting materials. US Universities and colleges often add an interview record to an applicant's materials (since the central office does not accept interviews) and your local institution can also provide a lot of guidance and assistance in preparing the application... but you don't have to be currently enrolled (or even in school) to apply for a Fulbright!

Fulbright applications are due in early October for awards that start no earlier than the following July. By January, the US office announces its list of semifinalists for each individual country, and those applications are then sent on to the country commission, which makes the final decisions. Some countries do not make their final decisions until May, but fortunately for us, Australia was quite efficient about that one. I learned in February 2004 that I had won a Fulbright, almost an entire year before I planned to go!

The Fulbright program is an exchange between the US and other countries, so every Fulbrighter is either from the US or going to the US. Many of the host countries have a national seminar at some point during the year for all the visiting Fulbrighters-- so, in February 2005 (just two weeks after we arrived in Australia!) the Australian-American Fulbright Commission flew all 13 of the 2004 Fulbrighters to the national capital of Canberra for a three-day, all-expenses-paid seminar. In addition to getting to meet and spend some time with D's fellow Fulbrighters, we also got to spend quite a bit of time with Mark Darby, the executive director for the Australian office, and Lyndell Wilson, the program manager for US Fulbrighters.

After we left Canberra, we all headed back to our host cities and institutions, with the promise that there would be hearing about more Fulbright activities, which of course we did. On the 16th of March, the US Consulate in Sydney held a reception at the Consul General's residence for all the Fulbrighters in the state of New South Wales, and a few weeks after thaton 7 April, the Fulbright alumni association of NSW held their annual meeting and invited the current Fulbrighters to attend. One week later, on 12 April, the University of Sydney held a luncheon with the Deputy Vice-Chanellor John Hearn for visiting Fulbrighters from the US at Sydney Uni and recently announced Australian Fulbrighters going to the US, along with our advisors.

On 19 May, the Australian-American Fulbright Commission held a national awards dinner in Sydney in honor of the 20 or so Australians who had just won 2005 Fulbrights to go to the US. Current Fulbrighters were invited, and an invitation was extended to our faculty advisor, in thanks for their guidance and assistance. D invited Professor Gay McAuley (right), whose work first sparked her interest in the department here and who has been an enthusiastic supporter before and since her arrival.

Since the dinner was in Sydney and it wasn't really for us anyway, only a handful of the US Fulbrighters that had been in Canberra were able to attend. But in between speeches, dinner courses, and slide show presentations on the Australian Fulbrighters' projects, D did get to catch up a little with Jonathan Volk (left) and even chat with DCM Bill Stanton again over cocktails. Program manager Lyndell Wilson (below) sat at the table with D and Gay for dinner, so we got to talk with her as well. It was a little surprising, actually, how many people D already knew of the 500 people there... Fulbright and Embassy staff as well as Australians heading off to the US.

At the National Awards dinner in May, we heard one of the earliest US Fulbrighters to Australia talk about how he was the last class of Fulbright awardees to take the long boat ride from the US to Australia together. (The following year they began flying the awardees.) It was a long time, he said, for the group to bond and share their fears and excitement about the experiences ahead of them.

Today, the situation is quite different for a class of Fulbrighters, but something of a social network remains. In Canberra, Chad and D convinced Chris Henry and his wife, and senior scholar Ginny Brooks to go to the theatre one night with us. And in Sydney, fellow Fulbrighter Mandie Cass joined us for D's birthday gathering at a local pub in March. In May, shortly before Mandie finished her Fulbright and returned to the US, Chad and D met up with her and another Fulbrighter visiting from Melbourne, Christen Fornadel. The four of us met at Govinda's movie house and restaurant, where you can get an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet dinner and then go recline and watch a movie on the pillowed couches.

Photo on left above: D. Ross, Mandie Cass, and Christen Fornadel.
Photo on right: Chad Ohlandt, D. Ross, and Christen Fornadel.