On August 1st of 2021, one of our Jordanian alumni surprised us with an artwork he was working on to highlight the mission of The Fulbright Program as part of the ongoing 75th Anniversary.
It was earlier this year of 2021 that Dr. Mohammad Al Jayyousi sent a message to the Alumni and Outreach team sharing some beautiful sketches of a drawing he was working on. Dr. Al Jayyousi is one of our Jordanian Post-Doctoral Researcher who was awarded the Fulbright award in 2019 to conduct research at Indiana State University titled “Using Digital Games in American Literature and Language Courses at University Level in Jordan to Enhance Learning and Intercultural Communication”.
This time, Dr. Al Jayyousi was lending his talent of drawing and creativity on top of his knowledge and experience in the field of English Literature. Dr. Al Jayyousi is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Philadelphia University in Jordan, as well as a talented artist, and enjoys drawing in his spare time.
When he learned that The Fulbright Program worldwide is celebrating their 75th Anniversary in 2021, he wanted to create a piece that for him reflected the core values of The Program in a way that was unique to him, and with that came this detailed and creative rendition of The Fulbright Mission found on our website which he translated into Arabic, and drew in and around the portrait of Senator J. William Fulbright.
The mission found on our website (HERE) translated into English reads:
Increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Strengthen the ties that unite the United States with other nations. Promote international cooperation for education and cultural advancement. Assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic, and peaceful relations between the United States and other countries of the world.
In this portrait, Dr. Al Jayyousi used a combination of Arabic calligraphy as well as the style of stippling using repetitive black dots and strokes creating this image. August 1st was the official Anniversary date of the 75th anniversary which the Alumni and Outreach team has been celebrating through a series of events all year long, and Dr. Al Jayyousi made sure to surprise us with the finished portrait on this day. The Commission plans to frame it properly and hang it in our Fulbright library.
Thank you Dr. Al Jayyousi for your dedication to The Fulbright Program, as well as sharing your talent and creativity with us, our grantees and alumni are the backbone of the work that we do.
You can read about the other ways the Alumni and Outreach team has been celebrating the Anniversary through 2021: https://www.fulbright-jordan.org/post/75th-six-months-recap
You can follow the activities, events and highlight of the Anniversary by The Fulbright Program on the dedicated website they launched earlier this year: www.fulbright75.org
