Sep 21, 2018
On September 22 and 23, Fulbright’s first international Diversity Conference took place in Berlin. As a transatlantic actor, the Fulbright Program has committed itself to promoting intercultural exchange since its establishment in 1946. The conference aimed to step up this programmatic and address the social, cultural and political challenges of promoting diversity in our own work.
Therefore, the 2018 Diversity Conference marked a special moment in our institutional history as we launched the European Fulbright Diversity Initiative (EFDI) together with 22 Fulbright Commissions in Europe. The goal of the initiative is to develop recommendations for Fulbright to promote diversity, inclusion and equity. Distinguished speakers such as Prof. Dr. Gökce Yurdakul (Georg Simmel Professor of Diversity and Social Conflict, Humboldt University Berlin) and Dr. P. Carl (Writer and Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, Emerson College) helped guide us in this great endeavor by offering transatlantic and European perspectives on diversity.
At the conference the German-American Fulbright Commission also celebrated the decennial of its Diversity Initiative - a program designed especially for students with a migration background.
We welcomed more than 180 diverse guests, including Fulbright grantees and alumni, European executive directors and staff members, as well as representatives from the Department of State, academia and society at large to join us to discuss topics of inclusion and diversity in the international context of research and education.
