Fulbright BadgeUC Berkeley was again recognized as one of this year’s Fulbright Program’s “top producers,” as announced in an email from Allan Goodman, head of the Institute of International Education, to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks. Goodman wrote, “UC Berkeley has the unique distinction of being one of this year’s top producers for both the Fulbright U.S. Student and Scholar Programs” — which award Fulbright fellowships to, respectively, students (both undergraduate and graduate) and faculty.

In the latest funding cycle, 18 Berkeley students — 11 graduate students and seven undergraduate students — were awarded Fulbright fellowships, putting Berkeley in 13th place among U.S. research universities (see the list of “top-producing institutions” published by The Chronicle of Higher Education).

Six Berkeley professors were also named Fulbright Scholars, placing Berkeley in seventh place among U.S. research universities.

Goodman commended the contribution of Berkeley Graduate Division staffer Gina Farales Blanco, who helps students apply for these fellowships by conducting workshops in late spring and over the summer. A faculty committee reviews and rates campus applications and forwards them to the Fulbright committee each fall.

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, seeks to foster mutual understanding by sending U.S. scholars abroad and bringing international scholars to the U.S.  Success in the Fulbright program has long been an early indicator of excellence in scholarship, as well as a stepping stone toward noteworthy future achievements. Among the 77 current faculty members who were Scholars is Oliver Williamson, who received a Fulbright in 1998 and who was named Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences in 2009.

Recently, Harriet Mayor Fulbright presented on the importance of international education and the history of the Fulbright Program.  Read the complete article on the recent lecture by Fulbright here.