Santa Fe College has been selected to host a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence from Brazil to co-teach two classes each semester in her fields of expertise during the 2012-2013 academic year. Dr. Regiani Zacarias, an expert in namely humanities, social sciences, and English linguistics at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in São Paulo State, was awarded the Fulbright grant by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Dr. Zacarias will help internationalize Santa Fe College by enhancing instructional resources in Latin American studies, English, social sciences, and business programs; improving student access to expertise regarding South America with special focus on study abroad in Brazil; and assisting in the creation of an international studies certificate program within General Education.
Dr. Zacarias is one of approximately 850 outstanding foreign faculty and professionals who will teach and/or research in the United States through the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program in 2012-2013. The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program brings scholars and professionals from abroad to U.S. colleges and universities to significantly internationalize campuses and curricula.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in over 155 countries worldwide.
Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 310,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in government, science, the arts, business, philanthropy, education, and athletics. Forty-three Fulbright alumni from 11 countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize, and 81 alumni have received Pulitzer Prizes. Prominent Fulbright alumni include: Muhammad Yunus, founder, Grameen Bank, and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient; John Atta Mills, president of Ghana; Lee Evans, Olympic gold medalist; Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate and 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry recipient; Riccardo Giacconi, physicist and 2002 Nobel Laureate; Amar Gopal Bose, chairman and founder, Bose Corporation; Renee Fleming, soprano; Jonathan Franzen, writer; and Daniel Libeskind, architect.
Fulbright recipients are among more than 40,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. For more than 60 years, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has funded and supported programs that seek to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a division of the Institute of International Education.
For more information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, please visit our website at http://fulbright.state.gov or contact James A. Lawrence, Office of Academic Exchange Programs, phone 202-632-3241 or email fulbright@state.gov.