The Chronicle of Higher Education Calls Pitt a "Top Producer" Among Research Universities of Fulbright Awards for U.S. Students

PITTSBURGH-The Chronicle of Higher of Higher Education listed the University of Pittsburgh as a "top producer" among research universities of Fulbright awards for U.S. students for 2006-07. Pitt students received 10 Fulbright awards from a pool of 21 applicants.

In a letter to Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, Allan E. Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, which administers the U.S. Student Fulbright Program, congratulated the University on the distinction of having 10 students receive Fulbright grants. He also recognized the efforts of Pitt Fulbright Program advisors Annagene Yucas, director of the Study Abroad Office in the University Center for International Studies, and Amy Eckhardt, director of national scholarships and international programming in the University Honors College.

In addition, two Pitt faculty members have been awarded Fulbright grants to conduct their work abroad. They are Kevin Kearns, professor of public and urban affairs in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and director of Pitt's Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership, and Andrew Weintraub, associate professor of music in Pitt's Department of Music and director of the Pitt Gamelan Ensemble.

Kearns will use his Fulbright grant this winter and spring to lecture on building strategic management capacity in Czech nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at Charles University, Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Weintraub will conduct research in Indonesia and will write a book about dangdut, a genre of popular music that blends Malay, Arabic, and Indian musical elements with American rock 'n' roll and Latin dance music. His project is entitled "Dangdut Stories: A Social and Musical History of Indonesia's Most Popular Music."

Pitt also is hosting 24 international students with Fulbright grants for graduate study and three visiting scholars at the University for the 2006-07 academic year.

Fulbright recipients are among more than 30,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. For more than 40 years, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has supported programs that seek to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and other countries.

America's flagship international educational exchange program, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since its inception, the Fulbright Program has exchanged approximately 273,500 people-102,900 Americans who have studied, taught, or researched abroad and 170,600 students, scholars, and teachers from other countries who have engaged in similar activities in the United States. The program operates in more than 150 countries worldwide.

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11/13/06/tmw