VIPs From the State Department

The Fulbright Proram that is supporting my visit to Malaysia is funded by the US Department of State. The Fulbright is only one of many education programs funded by the State Department.

Alina Romanowski, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs, and Matthew McMahon, the Chief of the East Asia and Pacific Fulbright program spent several days visiting Malaysia. They met with officials from the Ministry of Education, visited the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program in Teregganu, a stat on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula, and promoted opportunities for Malaysians to spend time in the US. If I have my figures correct, about 6000 Malaysians have participated in exhange programs with the US and the goal of the State Department is to greatly increase that number.

Press Interview. Yesterday, they were scheduled to have an interview with the local press to discuss the Fulbright Program in Malaysia. They wanted to have a Malaysian Fulbrighter who had studied in the US and an American Fulbrighter who was currently in Malaysia join in the interview as well. Dr. Chien-Sing Lee, an Associate Professor from Multimedia University in Selangor, Malaysia, divided her time in the US between Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech. Because I am currently the only US Fulbrighter in KL, the other is in Borneo, I was elected.

I enjoyed chatting with Alina and Mathew a bit before the interview started. They asked many good questions, but unfortunately I have not been here long enough to be able to give them very good answsers. Nicholas Papp, the U.S. Embassy Cultural Affairs Officer orchestrated the interview making sure that all of the photo ops were perfect and keeping everything running on schedule. It was fun to watch a professional at work.

Alumni Reception. In the afternoon I was invited to attend a round table reception for Malaysian Alumni of State Department supported programs. Because there are programs aimed at high school students, college undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals and scholars there was a wide range of particiants at the reception. It was very interesting for me to hear a little bit about their experiences while they were in the States. It was especially for me to meet college students who had spent a year at Montana State University and Mankato State University in Minnesota to hear how they coped with their first exposure to winter and one who spent her year at Jackson State University, in Mississippi, a predominately black university.

I am sorry that I still haven't figured out all of the exchange programs sponsored by the US government, but here are brief descriptions of some of the programs whose alumni I met yesterday.

Humphrey Program- The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is a Fulbright program that brings accomplished mid-level professionals to the United States for a year of academic and professional work. By providing future leaders and policy makers with experience in U.S. society, culture, and professional fields, the program provides a basis for lasting, productive ties between Americans and their professional counterparts overseas.

Kennedy-Lugar Youth and Study Program (YES)- The YES Program support exchanges and relationship building between high school students from countries with significant Muslim populations and the people of the United States. Malaysian students with insufficient English skills to partitipate in the program are enrolled in an intensive English learning program.

Study of US Institutions- Study of the US Institutes is an exchange programs for University Students. Students spend about 5 weeks in the US. Recent programs have focused on issues related to the Environment and New Media.