Another academic year starts under the cloud of Covid-19. Armed with a positive mindset, we return to a new normalcy. However, as we move forward, we must accept that we live in a state of continuing uncertainty. Across the globe, finding a balance between learning and safety is challenging.
Fulbright Greece is up to the test and, despite the current complexities of everyday life, the 2021–2022 scholarship cycle was successfully completed. We are proud to award 44 scholarships to Greek and U.S. students, scholars, researchers, teachers, artists, and professionals.
Fulbright scholarships are made possible with funds from the governments of the United States and the Hellenic Republic as well as the generosity and commitment of donors on both sides of the Atlantic. We recently received a heartwarming e-mail from an alumnus sharing the story of his Fulbright experience of forty years ago and how it changed his life; he wanted to know how he could give something back to the Program. We are thankful to all those who believe in the power of education—the safest and most potent investment for our future.
The last months have been pleasantly busy with the gradual departure of Greek scholars traveling to academic institutions in the United States and the long anticipated arrival of U.S. Fulbright scholars in Greece. This academic year, Fulbright will work with an additional 35 scholars, who were not able to fulfill their grants in the previous academic year, 2020–2021, due to the pandemic.
Ensuring the quality of learning, regardless of its mode of delivery, is the cornerstone of all Fulbright programs. The popular short-term programs for Greek secondary school educators and university undergraduate students started virtually and are scheduled to continue in person in the upcoming months.
A new online guide with ideas for an active summer to learn, experience, and explore was prepared by Greek and U.S. high school students, under our guidance. The guide is designed to help students and their families select the “right” summer program in the U.S. and to provide answers to frequently asked questions.
The cycle for the 2022–2023 scholarship program for Greek citizens is open and includes a new short term grant for post-doctoral scholars in universities or research centers in Greece to enhance their research in the United States.
The Fulbright Greece Virtual Exchanges initiative, created to foster connections and transcend distances during Covid-era social distancing, has become a useful and popular forum. We are excited to announce a new collaboration with the Hellenic Association for American Studies (HELAAS) to launch an annual online lecture series that will touch upon the umbrella themes of American as well as Greek-American Studies. Such a collaboration aims at disseminating knowledge as well as bringing subjects of interest in the areas of literature, culture, gender, politics, history, art, music, media, ethnicity, and immigration to the attention of a broad audience from the academic communities in Greece and in the United States. The lectures will be offered in either English or Greek, depending on the theme and the speaker. The participating speakers will have further opportunities to promote their work through various publication outlets, including Ergon, a peer-reviewed, free online journal that promotes the arts, letters, and scholarship of Greek America, and Ex-Centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media.
A dynamic team of Greek and U.S. alumni collaborated with the Benaki Museum for an extraordinary site-specific, socially-engaged, walking performance in Southern Greece that was part of the museum's Seeing with the Senses access program for visitors who are blind or partially sighted.
Celebrations of the 200-year-old friendship between the United States and Greece continue and include a plethora of projects by Fulbright alumni. One of the highlight projects of the bicentennial skillfully merged art and technology in Desire for Freedom, where the Greek Revolution "came to life" on buildings in 18 cities throughout Greece. This unique, multi-faceted, audiovisual narrative of the struggle of 1821 was a major event of the Greece 2021 Committee.
We look forward to a productive academic year and invite you to read
Fulbright Greece E-News.
Artemis A. Zenetou
Executive Director
Fulbright Greece