Throughout the year, the Fulbright Staff host “Alumni Lunches” in the Royal Library’s cafeteria to reconnect with Fulbright alumni and find ways to integrate them into current Fulbright programming.
On the third of July, the team at Fulbright Belgium was fortunate enough to meet with two members of the Fulbright community over lunch. Dr. Richard Cawley and Rosalind Duffy attended the meeting and shared their experiences and thoughts on the Fulbright program. Dr. Cawley is a Senior European Commission Official and one of the first Fulbright Schuman alumni; he attended Tufts University and MIT in 1995-96. Ms. Duffy is working on a Ph.D. focusing on the French Enlightenment at the University of Oxford. Her father was a Public Affairs Officer at the US Mission to the European Union and was instrumental in earning increased financial support for the Fulbright Schuman program from the U.S. Department of State during the program’s development.
The conversation was dynamic and covered topics ranging from the European Union to comparing universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. The lunch occurred just one day after Fulbright staff conducted a YouTube interview (www.youtube.com/fulbrightbe) with Fulbright alumna Cristina Gallach, Head of Public Relations at the Council of the European Union. Like Ms. Gallach, Mr. Cawley works for an EU institution and was able to identify several colleagues on the Commission’s list of Fulbright alumni working in the European Union. Staff were delighted to see a Fulbright Schuman alumnus hold a leadership role in European Union affairs, as the purpose of the Fulbright Schuman program is to increase mutual understanding between the United States and upcoming leaders in the EU.
During the lunch, Ali Edelstein, Fulbright Program Manager, also sought advice on strategies to connect alumni of the the Fulbright-Schuman Program, a challenging task because program alumni are from all over the EU and not one specific country. Overall, it was a great opportunity for the Fulbright Belgium staff to meet in person with two members of the Fulbright network!
If you are a Fulbright alum in Belgium and would like to attend an “Alumni Lunch” with Fulbright staff, please contact adviser@fulbright.be and we will keep you informed of future dates.