CSULB named 2021 Hispanic-Serving Institution Leader by Fulbright Program

Cal State Long Beach was one of 35 Hispanic-Serving Institutions to be honored as an inaugural Fulbright HSI Leader. 

The distinction recognizes The Beach’s high level of engagement with the Fulbright Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The Leader program was recently created to recognize Hispanic-Serving Institutions for promoting Fulbright opportunities on campus and for noteworthy engagement with Fulbright exchange participants during the 2019-21 academic years. 

“Being recognized as an inaugural Fulbright HSI Leader institution is an honor and an affirmation of our ongoing efforts,” President Jane Close Conoley said. “We are proud to be part of this U.S. State Department initiative that strengthens our commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

“CSULB is a globally connected campus, whose students are inspired to broaden their views, and the Fulbright Program provides our campus community with numerous opportunities to better understand the world around us and to engage with it.” 

The Beach was listed as a “Top Producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars and Students” in 2018 by the U.S. Department of State, and consistently had participants in the program. CSULB recently had five German Studies students accepted to the Fulbright Program. 

Earlier this year, Professor Matt Becker, chair of hydrogeology in the Department of Geological Sciences, received a Fulbright Scholar Award and will be in residence next spring at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, where he will be working on applications of fiber optic sensing for water resources and enhanced geothermal energy. Becker, who previously had a Fulbright in Italy, is one of several CSULB alumni and professors who have been awarded a Fulbright. 

In 2019, Allison E. Butler, a full-time lecturer in the College of Business Legal Studies in the business program, received a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach at the Universita Degli di Bari Aldo Moro in Bari, Italy. She taught a comparative contract course with a focus on freedom of contract and arbitration for undergraduate students, and an international business ethics course for graduate students. 

“We are honored to receive the Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI) designation from the prestigious Fulbright Program, which perfectly aligns with and further illuminates our Beach values," said Karyn Scissum Gunn, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

"This significant recognition highlights our campus’ posture as we boldly express equity, diversity and inclusion as a deep campus value – we will serve all our students, the community at large, and by extension, our world as a force for good. We could not be more proud to be one of the 35 HSIs to receive this inaugural distinction.“

The HSI Leader initiative is part of the State Department’s commitment to increase diversity and inclusion within the Fulbright Program, and within all the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ international exchange programs. The list of cohorts was announced in a joint statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. 

The Fulbright Program was created to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

The Fulbright Program offers international educational and cultural exchange programs for students, scholars, artists, teachers and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach or pursue research and professional projects. 

Fulbright is active in more than 160 countries worldwide and partners with participating governments, host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States. Many of these organizations also provide direct and indirect support. ECA sponsors the Fulbright Program, and several nonprofit, cooperative partners implement and support the program on the Bureau’s behalf. 

For further information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, please visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.