As part of the global celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program, the Fulbright Commission was honored to host His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince El Hassan bin Talal earlier this year to be our keynote speaker, and virtually meet a number of our alumni. 

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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 guests. 

Due to the pandemic, the meeting which was moderated by the Communications Team at Fulbright Jordan was virtual and took place on Zoom. All the alumni had the opportunity to introduce themselves and talk to HRH about their work. The conversations that ensued were valuable and diverse not least due to the enthusiasm that HRH expressed in learning about each and every alumni and his or her line of work. 

Chair of the Board, Dr. Nabil Ayoub, opened the meeting by welcoming HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, the alumni, and all other attendees and by thanking HRH for his consistent support of the Fulbright Mission over the last 27 years. Dr. Nabil’s remarks were followed by welcome messages from Ms. McKenzie Louw, a fellow Board Member and the ‍Cultural Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in Jordan, and Ms. Iman Abdul-Wahid, the Deputy Director and Acting Executive Director of the Binational Fulbright Commission in Jordan.

Following the opening messages, HRH invited the alumni to introduce themselves individually and then shared a wide-ranging and enriching speech that brought to the fore the importance of building enduring, global relationships and the significance of educational exchange programs in our increasingly interconnected world. “It is sometimes said,” remarked HRH “that wars and the war against the coronavirus are development-in-reverse. I would however go one step further and suggest we look at the cost of conflict in terms of opportunity lost and potential dissipated and laid waste to, and in terms of the trauma and decades of unanswered questions - of displaced refugees and the families and communities of those who have died or disappeared. Generations of children grow up irreparably stunted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. So, again, we ask, how visionary was Senator J. William Fulbright in 1945? And, how many wars have there been since World War II? Sydney Bailey, a great Quaker, who wrote the three-volume work entitled How Wars End, came to the conclusion that nobody really sees the consequences of war until it is almost too late, but here was Senator Fulbright, and, of course, his family, putting forward the proposal in 1945 to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus U.S. Government war property and to forgo the debts incurred by foreign countries in return for funding for an international exchange program”. 

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...but here was Senator Fulbright, and, of course, his family, putting forward the proposal in 1945 to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus U.S. Government war property and to forgo the debts incurred by foreign countries in return for funding for an international exchange program.

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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.”