Nieuws van de Fulbright Commission

Fulbright Award Ceremony 2022

De Fulbright Commission feliciteert dit jaar 22 Nederlandse graduate studenten, promovendi en wetenschappers met de ontvangst van een Fulbright beurs. De bursalen en hun familieleden werden afgelopen week ontvangen bij het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap in Den Haag. Daar woonden zij een feestelijke award ceremony bij met vertegenwoordigers van de Nederlandse en Amerikaanse overheid, Fulbright board members, staf en alumni.

Onder de sprekers bevonden zich

Prof. Dr. Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap

Ms. Marja Verloop, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission to the Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Anton Pijpers, Voorzitter van het bestuur van de Fulbright Commission

Ms. Lise Mitsinga, Fulbright alumna, aan Columbia Law School

Dr. Christward Gradenwitz, Executive Director van de Fulbright Commission

Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf was verheugd de Fulbright bursalen toe te spreken. Uit eigen ervaring kan hij een studie of onderzoek in de VS aan iedereen aanraden. Hij spoort de bursalen aan om hun successen te vieren, maar nog belangrijker, om óók te falen en de zo leerzame tegenslagen die bij dit avontuur horen te omarmen. Zijn advies aan de Fulbrighters: “”Embark on this wonderful adventure with conviction and curiosity. Meet each other, make friends, and find people with a different outlook on life than yours. Dare to deviate from the path laid out for you and try to find that winding road.”

Prof. Dr. Anton Pijpers, voorzitter van het bestuur van de Fulbright Commission, en de master of ceremonies tijdens de award ceremony, bedankte de minister voor zijn toespraak en zijn eerdere betrokkenheid bij het Fulbright programma. “We are also very happy at Fulbright to have you as our Minister. How special it is to have a former member of the Board of the Fulbright Commission, which you were before leaving for Princeton, returning as the Minister addressing our grantees in that capacity! Truly wonderful.”

Aan de zaal gaf hij de volgende boodschap mee: “Today, we are celebrating the fact that a select group of young scholars and students have been awarded a Fulbright grant. This opportunity will not only help them fulfill their ambitions, but it also helps realize the mission of the Fulbright Program: promoting mutual understanding between citizens of the United States and citizens of other nations […] Grantees – you are about to embark on a great adventure. One that will undoubtedly alter the course of your lives. I can assure you that you will return as a changed person, enriched in many ways.”

Chargé d’Affaires Marja Verloop sprak de zaal namens de Amerikaanse overheid toe. “Good afternoon, everyone. I want to join Minister Dijkgraaf and President Pijpers in congratulating to our grantees, and to thank our colleagues from the Ministry of Education for being such gracious hosts,” sprak zij. Aan de bursalen geeft zij het volgende mee: “Your Fulbright grants will open doors in ways you cannot imagine. You will gain new perspectives and learn to dream bigger. Years from now you will message with your best friend in America…someone you haven’t even met yet. And that all starts today. As our chief of mission here I can say this with some authority: You are all Ambassadors now. For your schools, for your fields of study, for the Netherlands.”

Voorzitter Anton Pijpers bedankte ook de Amerikaanse overheid voor hun bijdragen aan het programma. “We are fortunate today to hear from both of you, representing the American and Dutch governments respectively. Binational support is a foundational principle of the Fulbright Program in the Netherlands. The predecessor of our Commission was founded in 1949 on the basis of a Treaty between our two governments. Ever since the Fulbright Program has been able to flourish in the Netherlands thanks to the unwavering support of both governments.”

Lise Mitsinga ontving afgelopen jaar een Fulbright beurs voor haar Master of Laws aan Columbia Law School in New York. Net teruggekeerd uit de VS, deelde zij haar ervaringen met de nieuwe Fulbrighters en gaf hen drie belangrijke adviezen mee:  “First, derive meaning in the challenges you will undoubtedly face and know that you have the grace to overcome them. […] For a lot of us academic excellence is the standard that we have always upheld, and it can be intimidating to enter spaces where suddenly everyone is smart and you won’t always understand something instantly. Regardless, know that you belong in the spaces you are about to enter and that your contributions are valuable. Second, do not forget to invest in the intangible things that will outlast the duration of your program. […] Lastly, being admitted to a prestigious academic program or research opportunity is a milestone in itself, but the real challenge lies up ahead. Because on the other side of privilege lies responsibility. It is important to make a conscious effort to think of ways to leverage the resources that are made available to us, to leave a positive footprint, and to pay it forward whenever we can.”

Tot slot gaf Christward Gradenwitz, Executive Director van de Fulbright Commission, zijn visie op onze belangrijke missie van wederzijds begrip aan de Fulbright bursalen mee. “Fulbright is about connecting people between the U.S. and other countries, where states sometimes get into conflicts or even war. With the war in Ukraine this is more topical than ever. When the war started the Fulbright community reached out to Ukrainian and Russian Fulbrighters alike. In essence Fulbright is about building empathy, tolerance, and understanding, by learning to appreciate a diversity of views and of perspectives. As a matter of fact diversity is at the heart of the Fulbright Program.” De Fulbright bursalen dragen ieder bij aan deze missie, benadrukte hij verder. “Fulbright is looking for innovators, leaders, and trailblazers. This was the task we set ourselves this year again. I believe I can speak on behalf of all the selection committee members in saying that it was a great privilege and joy to interview the students this year. Their passion for their projects was infectious. We all enjoyed our time with you, and we cannot wait to watch you embark on your journeys.”

Onder de sprekers bevonden zich

Ms. Marja Verloop, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission to the Netherlands

Prof. dr. Anton Pijpers, Voorzitter van het bestuur van de Fulbright Commission

Mr. Gerbert Kunst, Directeur Internationaal Beleid bij het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap

Ms. Trix Mulder, Fulbright alumna aan de University of Maryland

Mr. Aydan Figaroa, Fulbright alumnus aan Yale University

Dr. Christward Gradenwitz, Executive Director van de Fulbright Commission

“This is the first event we are hosting in the Embassy since the pandemic began and I’m so glad we are using it to honor you,” verwelkomde Chargé d’Affaires Marja Verloop de Fulbright bursalen. “For the last 75 years, Fulbright has been enriching lives, supporting research, and building bridges across the Atlantic. […] Senator Fulbright believed so strongly in the ideal of mutual understanding and people-to-people diplomacy that he did something decidedly American—he went to Congress and requested the establishment of the largest exchange program in history. 75 years later, Fulbright is known as much for academic excellence as it is for bridging cultures and for forming lifelong bonds. From the Cold War, to the rise of the Internet and now into this century, scholars like you have innovated, broadened our understanding of our world, and left their mark on Fulbright. Your Fulbright grants will open doors in ways you cannot imagine, you will gain new perspectives and learn to dream bigger.”

Mr Gerbert Kunst, directeur Internationaal Beleid bij het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap voegde daar aan toe: “these are experiences you will never forget. And don’t be afraid to dedicate yourself to a better world. You don’t need to be a world leader or nobel prize winner to do that, although you never know what could happen!”

Prof. Dr. Anton Pijpers, voorzitter van het bestuur van de Fulbright Commission, gaf bursalen de volgende boodschap mee: “You will serve as ambassadors for your country, just as the incoming U.S. students and scholars will represent their country. What does it mean to serve as an Ambassador? I would say it means: be authentic, be open-minded, do not shy away from interesting or challenging conversations about either country. Learn and educate. Find common ground and celebrate it, acknowledge difference and try to respect it. As I am sure our speakers will remind us today, our two nations share deep and meaningful historic ties and a promising future. We are delighted that you will be a part of that future.”

Ook onze Fulbright alumni, Aydan en Trix, hadden advies voor de aankomende studenten en onderzoekers. Aydan Figaroa studeerde in 2020-2021 aan Yale Law School en deelde het volgende over zijn ervaringen: “Having this amazing Fulbright experience made me realize what my position was in the world, what my position was with the law, and now I can use the law to make the world hopefully a better place.” Het belangrijkste advies dat hij de nieuwe Fulbright bursalen zou willen meegeven is: “Be open and honest. Be open and honest to yourself – it’s ok to sometimes feel out of place and to miss your friends and family. And also be open and honest to others: talk to your peers, talk to your professors, talk to the people you meet on the streets. It will help you find your position in the world.”

Trix Mulder studeerde in 2019 aan de University of Maryland. Ze vertelde in een video over haar ervaringen en had het volgende advies: “Even if you spend most of your time in academia, make sure you also have time to speak to other Americans. There are different ways to go about this. My way was watching sports. I deliberately chose to go to games on my own. I noticed very quickly that Americans are very curious about the people sitting next to them, especially when they’re sitting alone. I met the nicest people during those games. They told me so much about what it means to be in their city and what it means to be an American. Some of them even invited me for a meal to talk some more. Two years later, I am still in contact with some of them. I truly believe that combining the information I received from the people within academia and the information people outside academia gave me, helped me understand the American culture better. It also helped me understand American law better – because law does not exist on its own.”

Tot slot gaf Christward Gradenwitz, Executive Director van de Fulbright Commission, zijn visie op onze belangrijke missie van wederzijds begrip aan de Fulbright bursalen mee. “One way of looking at mutual understanding is to see the common ground. The U.S. and the Netherlands HAVE a lot of common ground. In essence we share the foundations that can be called the hallmarks of Western society, like freedom, democracy, and human rights. But mutual understanding is not only about what is the same. It is also about what is different. Not only BETWEEN our two countries, but also WITHIN them. If there is no common ground, how can we find the middle ground? We can learn from each other, by looking at how we try to deal with differences in our respective countries. Differences are good; diversity is great. Quite rightly it is a theme that is high on all agendas everywhere. By approaching mutual understanding the way I suggested, as Fulbrighters we can put diversity at the heart of our mission.”

Fulbright bursalen 2021-2022

In het academisch jaar 2021-2022 vertrekken 19 Nederlandse Fulbright bursalen naar de VS voor studie en/of onderzoek. Wij wensen hen een heel succesvolle en inspirerende tijd in de Verenigde Staten.

Grantees 

Scholar:

Roy Otten, Arizona State University

Promovendi:

Dirk Alkemade, New Netherlands Research Center (gesponsord door NNRC)

Rob de Haas, University of Washington (gesponsord door Elsevier)

Freek Heideman, New York University

Eva van der Linden, National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute

Kim de Luca, University of California – Berkeley (gesponsord door Elsevier)

Mirjam Meijer, University of California – Los Angeles

Stéphanie Noach, Harvard University

Mieke Slim, Harvard University

Lotte Spreeuwenberg, City University of New York

Simon van der Weele, Johns Hopkins University (gesponsord door Elsevier)

Graduate Students: 

Yussef Al Tamimi, Yale University

Joosje Bleeker, University of California – Santa Cruz

Georgina Booth, Columbia University

Sjoukje IJlstra, Harvard University (gesponsord door de Netherland-America Foundation)

Justin Lindeboom, Harvard University

Lise Mitsinga, Columbia University (gesponsord door de Netherland-America Foundation)

Inge Oosterhoff, New York University

Jeffrey Sprong, Yale University