Fulbright Scholars Convene in Birmingham, Alabama

Enrichment Seminar on Human Rights , March 7-10, 2012

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
March 2, 2012

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The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will convene 65 Fulbright Visiting Scholars from more than 38 countries at the 2012 Fulbright enrichment seminar, Human Rights: Building a Society that Protects Human Rights and Celebrates Ethnicity, held in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, March 7-10, 2012. ECA will host the enrichment seminar in cooperation with the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and the International Services Council of Alabama.

The Fulbright Visiting Scholars are conducting research and/or lecturing at colleges and universities across the United States. They will meet with the seminar’s keynote speaker Stephen Black, president and founder of the non-governmental organization Impact Alabama, and also experts from Birmingham-area universities, media outlets, government agencies and human rights organizations. During the seminar, they will visit important local landmarks, including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Rosa Parks Museum and the Alabama State Capitol. Students from Miles College and Alabama State University, two area Historically Black Colleges and Universities, will join the Fulbright Scholars at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Rosa Parks Museum. Finally, participants will enjoy an evening at the homes of Birmingham residents and work alongside local volunteers at Montgomery schools tutoring students and sharing information about their home countries.

This seminar is part of a series of three enrichment seminars for Fulbright Visiting Scholars during the 2011-12 academic year. In November 2011, the first seminar was held on human rights and democracy in Atlanta, Georgia. The final seminar will be on diversity issues in Chicago, Illinois, March 28-31. These seminars enrich the experience of Fulbright Visiting Scholars, provide a venue for interaction with the local community, and increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 310,000 participants from more than 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Media Contacts: James Lawrence, LawrenceJA@state.gov, (202) 632-3241.

ENDS

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