The US Government’s Fulbright Program is one of the world’s most prestigious and widely-known academic exchange programs. The main goal of the Fulbright Program, initiated in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright, is to strengthen the basis for peace by strengthening mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of partner countries around the world.  Student and faculty exchanges at the highest possible level of academic excellence are the principal means employed by the Fulbright Program to achieve this goal.
 

The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge,

a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs

and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last

to live in peace and friendship.

 

Senator J. William Fulbright

Senator Fulbright's visit to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1960: from left to right – Senator Fulbright; Mr. Daniel M. Krauskopf, Executive Director (1958 – 1995),
United States-Israel Educational Foundation; Professor Maury Massler,
University of Illinois, Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellow.
(Photo by Werner Braun, Jerusalem; used by permission of the photographer)  


The United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF), established by the Governments of the United States and Israel in 1956, is responsible for the administration of Israel’s participation in the Fulbright Program.

 

In the years since USIEF’s establishment over 1,000 US citizens and over 1,300 Israelis have taken part in a variety of Fulbright exchanges.  US alumni have made their mark primarily in the academic world.  Israeli Fulbright alumni fill leading roles in academia, in government, in medical and social services, and in literature.

 

Prominent Israeli Fulbright-Israel Alumni

Professor Aharon Barak, former President, Supreme Court
Professor Aaron Ciechanover, The Technion, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Professor Menahem Megidor, President, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Ilan Chet, former President, Weizmann Institute of Science
Professor Itamar Rabinovich, former President, Tel Aviv University; former Ambassador of Israel to the United States
Professor Aharon Ben-Ze’ev, President, University of Haifa
Professor Yair Orgler, former Chairman, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Professor Yehuda Danon, Founding Director, Schneider Children’s Hospital; former Chief Medical Officer, Israel Defense Force
Professor Yuli Tamir, Member of Knesset and Minister of Education/Labor

Professor Daniel Friedmann, Minister of Justice
Dr. Uzi Landau, former Member of Knesset and Minister/Likud
Mr. A.B. Yehoshua, novelist and playwright
Mr. Aharon Megged, novelist

Prominent US Fulbright-Israel Alumni

Dr. Alan Leshner, Executive Director, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Professor David Dobkin, Dean of the Faculty and Chair, Computer Science, Princeton University
Professor Felix Bloch, Standford University, 1952 Nobel Laureate in Physics (deceased)
Mr. E. Ethelbert Miller, poet, author, and editor, and Director, African American Resource Center, Howard University
Professor Barbara Weinstein, University of Maryland College Park, President, American Historical Association
Professor Melvin Ely, College of William & Mary, 2004 Bancroft and Beveridge Prize winner

In addition to its main mission, administration of the Fulbright Israel exchanges, USIEF carries out a number of complementary activities:

 

USIEF’s educationUSA Educational Counseling Center provides accurate, comprehensive, current, and unbiased information on post-secondary educational opportunities in the United States.  The Center’s services cover the entire range of options, from one-year technical courses, English language programs and distance learning, through associate and bachelor’s degree programs, and up to post-graduate programs leading to professional degrees in law and medicine and MA and PhD degrees in all disciplines.

USIEF’s Fulbright-Israel conference program provides a platform for appearances by US Fulbright Fellows and other US guests and by Israeli Fulbright alumni.  The program includes special lectures and symposia on a wide variety of topics.  A major theme within the program is higher education policy and the development of higher education systems.

During the 2005/2006 academic year, a special program of events was carried out to mark the 50th anniversary of the signature of the US-Israeli agreement on the establishment of USIEF and the beginning of US-Israeli Fulbright exchanges.

USIEF’s policies and program of activities are set by USIEF’s Board of Directors.  The Ambassador of the United States to Israel, Mr. James B. Cunningham, is the Honorary Chairman of the Board, while Mr. Dan Vilenski, former Chairman of the Board of Applied Materials Israel, serves as the Board’s Chairman.  The other Members of the Board are:

US members

  • Ms. Bonnie Gutman, Public Affairs Officer, Embassy of the United States
  • Ms. Donna Woolf, Cultural Affairs Officer, Embassy of the United States
  • Mr. Luis G. Moreno, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the United States (Alternate Member)
  • Mr. Paul Rohrlich, First Secretary, Science, Environment and Technology Affairs, Embassy of the United States (Alternate Member)
  • Dr. Shlomo Nass, Attorney and Certified Public Accountant
  • Professor Hana Wirth-Nesher, Tel Aviv University

 

Israeli members

  • Mr. Arye Mekel, Deputy Director General/Cultural and Scientific Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Professor Shimon Yankielowicz, Planning and Budgeting Committee, Council for Higher Education
  • Dr. Yoram Blachar, Chairman, Israel Medical Association

 

USIEF's program of activities is implemented by a eight-member staff, headed by Executive Director Dr. Neal Sherman.

 

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