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Transcript For: Fulbright Alumni Roundtable, NY May 2008 - Western Hemisphere Q&A

Fulbright Alumni Roundtable, NY May 2008 - Western Hemisphere Q&A. Alumni and Jody Dudderar, manager for the Western Hemisphere, answer questions from the audience.

Question and Answers, Part 1

Jody: I would like to open it up and the procedure we’re going to use for questions is one that we usually use. We’re going to go out to the regions first and let them as the question. So we’re going to start on the west coast and make our way east. San Francisco?

Student 1: Hi. I have a general question. Just the other one, about the community engagement component, do you actually work that into your proposal, for example, teaching workshops, you know, if that was actually part of the proposal themselves.

Jody: Would you like to talk about that?

Afreen: Sure. It was definitely I would say at least half of my project proposal, if not two thirds. Yeah, I mean, again, my institutional affiliation was very sound and remained sound. And my project was gauging essentially something in practice, you know, street theatre in practice and how effective it was, that peace building between warring ghettos. So it was certainly a vast component of my project proposal.

Colleen: Anyone else want to speak to that?

Jody: Yeah. I do want to mention that we do, in our materials that we give you, or the advice that we give you, talking about ways in which you will engage in the community is an important aspect. You can fold it into your project proposal if it’s relevant, as it was with Afreen. Or you can talk about it in your personal statement if you find that it’s not easy to fold into your project. However I will mention that if you have a project that is very much focused on study, on archival research, you really better have a way of folding in community engagement. That will be a very, very important factor in final decisions, especially in very competitive environments like Latin America. It’s up to you how you do it, where you do it, and how much you focus on it, but it needs to be in there someway. Okay?

Student 2: Yes, I have a question also for the woman who was in Jamaica studying drama. Just, I was wondering, did you specifically ask to, did you specifically propose to be a director, you know, the sense that they allowed you to co-direct seems pretty fantastic as someone who they didn’t know before and someone when, I’m wondering about that as a pretty big opportunity.

Afreen: It was actually a really phenomenal opportunity that I didn’t even know they would entirely grant me right off the bat, which is something that they did. They knew that I had a theatrical background when I was first engaging in discussions with them and whether or not like I would be able to work with them for a year. They knew that I had a strong history in theatre. And they were kind of also like well, what do you want to do with us, and so, you know, I talked about my research component and I was also like I have these skills to bring to the table, and you know fortunately they were very receptive and maybe a little bit too giving in terms of what they enabled me to do while I was down there. But I mean that was something I definitely engaged in dialogue with prior to going down there.

Jody: Houston.

Colleen: Yes, we have a question.

Jody: Great.

Student 3: I have one question. I know that, you know, these are independent study research type projects and you need to like get an affiliation in your host country. How much interaction do participants have with the actual Fulbright Program while they’re doing, you know, while they’re out in their projects? I mean, is there much interaction there, I mean that you can fall back for when these, you know, you fall into trouble like say displaced with your NGO or something like that? I’d like to ask a question about that.

Jody: Sylvia, since you’re there in Houston, do you want to address that? Oh, or Natalia can.

Natalia: I can talk about it briefly. In Argentina we had a very supportive Fulbright Commission that was responsive to student needs. In the ETA Program there were some students who had sort of logistical challenges in their locations and they were very accessible by e-mail and phone, or even if you just went to Buenos Aires they would always invite us to come by and be there to hear our concerns. So that was really great to know that someone was there in the country to help us who understood our situation.

Jody: Okay. And Sam wants to speak to that as well.

Sam: I think that’s a really good question because it definitely happens. Mexico has a very strong commission as well. And I think the amazing thing is they are always like had an open door policy, you know. They’re always, always wanted to hear from us and hear us communicate, especially when we were having a problem. That said, they were an amazing, amazing support to me. And to several of my friends who encountered difficulties down there. That said, the attitude that you are still the master of your own destiny down there prevails. And I think that that’s, that’s what if you complete a Fulbright you’ll know when you say to your other fellow Fulbrighters, well, we’re Fulbrighters meaning, it’s a loaded statement meaning like we can make something out of nothing and do stuff, do stuff when we think we have nothing. So I think that that’s, you know, the commission’s there to support you and they do and they’re some of the most amazing people; very dynamic and very caring people. But they also want you to be problem solvers. So you are constantly needing to create new pathways for yourself.

Jody: I really appreciate that. Thank you. One of the things that you all will, if you become grantees, again, every country is different. The larger countries have Fulbright Commissions that are staff that are specifically dedicated to supporting the Fulbright Program and grantees in that country, and the level of support that they give you can vary from country to country, but it’s there. If you’re applying to one of the smaller countries, this will be all of the countries in Central America, the Caribbean, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Paraguay, these are what we call Post Countries (are these capitalized?). Your grants in these countries are administered through the Cultural Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy. The Cultural Affairs Office in these embassies are often the busiest offices possible, and so you’re not their full focus of attention. However, they are still there to support you. So I guess what I’m saying is if you’re running into problems as a grantee, your first line of support would be the Commission or the Post, but their attitude is, well you’re a Fulbright Grantee. We’ll help you if you need it, but you really do need to take the initiative and work these problems out for yourself. And at the end of the day grantees do work their problems out for themselves. We very rarely have a grantee who comes back to us throwing their hands up in despair and says they can’t do it. As you’ve heard from all of these, they’ve all managed to do quite well I think.

Student 4: I was just wondering if anyone on the panel did their fellowship with bringing a spouse or dependent, and if so what that was like; if there were any comments about that.

Jody: Unless there’s on in Houston, we don’t have any here. I, okay, good.

Natalia: I didn’t have a spouse, but my boyfriend came down for five months of my grant. Not, of course, affiliated with Fulbright, just on his own. I felt like for what I was doing it was a very worth while experience because he was able to come as a guest speaker to some of the classes, and because in Mar del Plata they don’t have many Americans at all. It was interesting for the people in the community group I was involved with as well to be able to get a male perspective, and you know, different opinions than what I had. So, but it was not affiliated with Fulbright.

Jody: Actually, with the U.S. Student Program, financially there is minimal dependents support. The grant does not provide very much in terms of helping you out financially with your dependents. Although, as Natalia said, I think grantees who do have spouses, sometimes children along, they can be very much of a support for the people. The program might not provide a lot of support, but they do provide support to grantees. I don’t know if any of you, yes, Sam has a comment.

Sam: Very briefly. Actually, I knew, because Mexico is such a big country in terms of grantees, I knew many different situations. I knew several of the grantees who brought a spouse who was, you know, a dependent, and that spouse either had an internship or got some sort of part time work, something to advance their career. Another was a spouse who, he was kind of just like, he had been working for five years, and he’s like I’m going to take a leave of absence. And he did, and he went down there with his wife. Another couple down there both got Fulbrights. So there’s any number of combination of things, which is pretty amazing, and I wouldn’t bank on that happening certainly, because when I heard that I was like, wow, that’s amazing. But, they both had Fulbrights. So, it’s definitely possible and several, several couples did it in Mexico.

Jody: Thank you. Another question in Houston.

Student 5: Yeah. One more question. We’ve gotten a good feel of what the different experiences are and what we can expect if we’re granted it, but what is one thing you could say that separates a successful applicant from other applicants who apply and aren’t accepted?

Jody: I’m going to really give you a cop-out answer on this, because it very much does depend on the applicant itself. I think strong applicants, successful applicants, have extremely well written, thoughtful essays. And by that I mean that the project statement clearly indicates that this person has an idea of what they want to do, how they’re going to do it, where they’re going to want to do it. Because even if it changes, there’s an indication that this person has the ability to develop a plan from start to finish. A lot of it is in the essay. I have to say that could be one of the most distinctive features of applications.

Colleen: I would just like to add briefly if you think of the characteristics that you’ve heard from the grantees tonight, that they all have been tenacious, that they’re ambitious, they’re focused, and they’re goal oriented. And just as with some of their affiliations had changed over time, the same thing goes with your research for writing your Fulbright project and organizing that. And I think you should think about those characteristics when you’re putting together your Fulbright project. You want to be tenacious, you want to be ambitious, and you want to be able to communicate this to others, and if you’re able to communicate those aspects, that will make you a Fulbright, a successful grantee. So you need to be able to let the reviewers know what you want to do, where you want to do it, and why, and it comes very simply down to that. And also remember that it’s very, very competitive, so you want to do it as best as you can, have your application reviewed, and reviewed, and reviewed again, and for critiques people will be able to point out to you; how you can make it better. And I think those are what makes a successful applicant, but that’s also what’s going to make you into a successful grantee.

Some Just really quickly to add to that. Specifically. You can’t be too specific. So, if that helps, you know, don’t think well, is this too specific and not general? Like, you can be very specific and just think of it in terms of, the way I thought about it was, make someone want to trust you a hundred percent being on your own, giving you money to do whatever you want, or the plan that you propose, make them feel a hundred percent comfortable, being like I know this person can do it. So that’s the idea.

Afreen: Can I just add one really quick thing?

Staff(either Jody or Colleen): Sure.

Afreen: If you are associated with an institution, like if you’re writing this as somebody who’s a graduating senior or somebody who’s finishing up a Master’s program, over utilize whatever resources they have to offer you. You know, at Brown University they had somebody on hand who was willing to draft as many Fulbright project proposals a person will save, and as you wanted, and I think that was really invaluable and definitely helped a bunch of us win that year.

Jody: Yeah, review drafts. Not write them for you. Review them.

Afreen: Yeah, sorry. Thanks for your clarification.

Jody: Brown does not write. No, I’m just kidding. No, hopefully that’s helped you, and I think it is true. That application that stands out is the application that’s complete, that’s thoughtful, that covers all the bases, and helps the reviewer get a very clear picture of who this person is and what they’re going to do if they won this grant. And that’s hard. Earlier, one of the, I can’t remember who it was, said they had their, that one of the most helpful things was having their project critiqued, their statements and essays critiqued. I would say have your whole application critiqued, both by someone who knows you, but more importantly by someone who doesn’t know you. I’ve sat in screening meetings where we’re discussing a candidate and there’s a big gap, which we’re trying to figure out, well, how did they get from this point to this point, or how did they make the assumption they could do this? We call it the sin of omission, and that is you forget, or you neglect to tell us something that’s very, very important about yourself. And the way you learn that something that’s missing is by having someone that doesn’t know you, who doesn’t know your project, take a look at it, and then they’ll be able to point out that missing piece. Okay?

Linda: But I think another thing to do is to try to contact organizations immediately. I know it seems so ridiculously early but I found that not only did it take a long time, and granted I had a lot of problems with my organization, but not only did it take a long time to say parse through exactly what we would be doing together, but in addition to that you have to get an actual letter with a signature from your organization, which means it has to go through the mail. This might not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is. Because not only is it a big deal to get that letter physically into the mail from whatever country your organization is in, but in addition it takes a long time to get to you from there if the mail is anything like it is in Columbia. So that’s something to think about when you know that you’ve a deadline approaching and you need to have that letter in hand.

Jody: Thank you.

Student 6: I wanted to know how much your prior experience in your field as it relates to your proposed project; how much that plays into what you’re trying to do.

Sylvia: When I was a senior in college I wrote a thesis that was about international NGO’s and how they effect environmental standards, and so that’s kind of why I chose the project I did in Peru. But I could have just as easily chosen another topic because in the end my prior experience had nothing to do with my project. So I would say if you feel like you don’t know a lot about a topic, you can still do that topic. In the end I worked with indigenous communities in the rain forest. I didn’t know anything about it. I would say if there’s a topic you’re interested in but don’t really know a lot about, this is an opportunity to explore that topic.

Jody: Before I go, Linda wants to respond to it. That is how your project evolved once you’re in the country. During the application process however I will need to alert you. You will be assessed by a committee who’s going to determine whether or not you’ve got the background and skills to carry out the project. That doesn’t mean that you have to have very specific experience in a very specific area. But you would have to have experience or knowledge of whether it’s the methodology to carry out the project. Perhaps in Sylvia’s case, she’d never worked with indigenous groups in the jungle; you don’t have a lot of opportunity to do that in New York perhaps, but she did have the skills that she was able to adapt to that particular situation. So it’s not like someone coming with a biology background doing what Afreen did in Jamaica. That might not be feasible, but it might be someone with a general background undertaking a project in a similar area. Colleen, and then we’ll take it back to Linda.

Colleen: To add to what Sylvia said, if you’re not planning on applying to 2009, maybe you’re considering for 2010 or you’re already doing research, you may be wanting to look at something you haven’t done before and start preparing yourself so that your application would be viable. If you were a junior in college that was thinking about one for after they finish university, they might start taking class and coursework in an area that they just find interesting and they don’t have the background for, but they’re preparing themselves to have the experience in order to fulfill that project. So that’s one thing to keep in consideration as well.

Jody: Thank you. Linda?

Linda: I’d like to make a really quick caveat. While the substance of your project might change substantially, if you’re doing a technical or artistic project, you will find that you will most likely bring everything with you that you’ll need and be able to preempt some of the questions you might have before you arrive. I found that with radio I needed to bring all of the equipment with me before I got there. It was so lucky that I had done that because I couldn’t have bought most of it there or if I were to buy it, it would have cost me exorbitant fees. In addition to that, a lot of the people who I met were on different systems than the ones that I was using, and so I think it’s something to consider before you start with the methodology and the equipment that you’ll be using.

Alumni: I just have something really quickly to say with respect to having background in the subject matter. I think something that’s also really important is to note that the Fulbright is a process of self discovery, but it’s a bilateral process, which means the community you’re going to be engaging in is going to be benefiting from your being there, alongside you benefiting from engaging in that experience. So in that sense I think it’s really important to have background in what you’re doing because you’re bringing stuff to the table that they haven’t been exposed to before. Obviously you’re taking in a lot of stuff that you haven’t been exposed to before. You just want to make sure that you’re there for a reason and your presence is understood and felt.

Jody: Thank you. Know that you’re contributing something to the community as well as taking something away from the community, and so you have to have those skills in order to be able to make that contribution.