July 7th is Fulbright Jordan's Day as part of the 75th Anniversary of The Fulbright Program. We wanted to put together a recap of the various projects and events we have created and promoted in the past six months leading to this day which you can read in our latest post.
For over seven decades, the Fulbright Program continues to impact the lives of individuals and communities across the globe through the power of educational and cultural exchange. This year, The Program marks its 75th anniversary by celebrating the everlasting impact of the program worldwide across more than 160 countries.
The Fulbright Jordan has been celebrating this special occasion from the beginning of 2021 reflecting the vision and mission the program holds. Today, July 7th, has been chosen as Fulbright Jordan’s Day which falls on the same day as The 7 Wonders Day in which the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan was named as one of the modern seven wonders of the world on July 7th of 2007. This day is dedicated to celebrate the impact the Commission in Jordan has made for the last 27 years. In the past six months alone, the Outreach team at Fulbright Jordan ran various events and diverse projects to reflect the true essence of the program, with more to come in throughout 2021.
We put together a recap of what we have been up to in the last seven months leading to Fulbright Jordan’s Day, and the webinar we are hosting on the evening of the 7th with four Fulbright alumni.
Alumni Inspiration Video Series
We started planning early in December of 2020, and started filming our very first video series featuring a number of our alumni. Filming for the video series will continue until the end of this year and it has been made into long and short videos that are shared or will be shared throughout 2021.
In December of 2020, Fulbright Jordan interviewed one of their brightest alumni, Dr. Rana Dajani, at the We Love Reading offices in Amman. Dr. Dajani has talked about her Fulbright experience being a two-time grantee of the Fulbright Program, her accomplishments in her field, and her initiative - We Love Reading. Dr. Dajani is a Molecular Biologist and Tenured Professor of Biology and Biotechnology at the Hashemite University. Additionally, she is a proud mother of four, a social entrepreneur, and a human rights defender, and is specifically interested in raising the health, educational and social status of women and children in the region.
You can read about the interview here or watch the full and inspiring interview here.
In the month of April, Fulbright Jordan interviewed its second alum - Dr. Fares Braizat. The shooting took place at Dr. Braizat’s Research institute, NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions. During the interview, Dr. Braizat talked about being awarded the Fulbright American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship (APSA). He also talked about his extended accomplishments in various fields. Dr. Braizat concluded the interview by sending a message to the Arab youth in general and to the Jordanian youth in specific given the fact that he served as the Minister of Youth in 2019. Dr. Fares' interview can be watched HERE.
Alumni Inspiration Mini Feature
In June, the Commission interviewed a number of its Jordanian and American alumni over the course of two days. These alumni are grantees of the core programs the Commission offers for Jordanians and Americans. The alumni were asked various questions about their awards, how these awards impacted them, and others. The purpose of this series is to represent the diverse and long-lasting impact the program has on each of them coinciding with its 75th anniversary.
These features will be shared in segments throughout the year 2021. You can read the full feature and find links to the videos HERE.
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Alumni Meeting with the Fulbright Jordan’s Royal Patronage, His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince El Hassan bin Talal
The Fulbright Commission in Jordan was honored to host His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince El Hassan bin Talal back in March as the keynote speaker, and virtually meet a number of our alumni. The event included a number of Jordanian and American alumni across various disciplines, cohorts, and programs, Commission staff, representatives from our board and the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, and other esteemed guests.
His Royal Highness concluded the meeting by wishing the Fulbright Program a happy 75th Anniversary, and encouraging all of the alumni to keep up the great work, saying:
Let’s not give up the fight when it’s becoming most interesting and demanding.
Read the full feature of this event through the article here.
ACOR–Fulbright Jordan Lecture Series
Fulbright Jordan and ACOR have launched a collaborative lecture series to celebrate the careers and the lasting contributions of alumni of both programs, coinciding with the everlasting impact of the Fulbright Program worldwide in its 75th anniversary and the 50th year of ACOR fellowships. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Maysoon Al-Nahar, the Dean of Archeology at the University of Jordan. Dr. Al-Nahar received the Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship in 1995 and got her PhD from the University of Arizona.
You can read more about this collaboration and watch the lecture here.
Fulbright X The Box Workshop
In the month of June, Fulbright Jordan hosted a special art workshop with its alumni in partnership with The Box, which is an initiative founded by our Jordanian alumna Rand Abdul Nour and her project partner, Laila Demashqieh. The workshop included a number of alumni to create personalized postcards using a specialized kit provided by The Box. The theme of the workshop was “Nostalgia”; Each alum shared pictures of special memories they are fond of from their experience in the United States during their Fulbright grant.
You can read more about the event, and view photos of the postcards in our latest article here.
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July 7th Webinar: "Preserving Heritage, Cultivating Communities
Today, July 7th, Fulbright Jordan is hosting a webinar titled Preserving Heritage, Cultivating Communities: A Reflection from Jordanian and American Fulbright Researchers as part of the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright Program worldwide. The webinar will highlight the intersection between historical and archeological work reflecting on the preservation of Jordanian heritage, and its connection to the present communities that exist around Jordanian archeological sites. This webinar falls on Jordan’s Fulbright Day on July 7th that marks the Jordanian Commission and its vital role for over two decades in promoting international cooperation for education and cultural advancement.
Read more about the event and panelists here.
Upcoming Projects
At the end of this July, the Commission will hold a volunteering project and workshop to engage alumni in giving back to their community. The project will be in partnership with TEENAH, which is a social enterprise based in the city of Irbid that supports jobs for Syrian refugee women and women from their host communities in Jordan. The project's idea came by wanting to upcycle our old Fulbright branding of tote bags and t-shirts into new items to be donated to communities in need. The workshop would engage alumni with the process of achieving the goal of this project in giving back to the community and lessen our carbon footprint. More about the project and the workshop will be shared on our website. Updated: You can read about the workshop, and watch a video recap HERE.
As six months have passed and a lot of events and projects took place, the Commission continues to celebrate the 75th anniversary throughout the year by conducting other projects to mark this special year.
Stay tuned to know more about our upcoming projects and celebrations!
