Home | Foundation for Educational Exchange

Foundation for Educational Exchange
between Canada and the United States of America

Located in Ottawa, the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America is a treaty-based, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. The Foundation manages and administers the prestigious Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program. In addition, the Foundation administers a number of ancillary programs, including the Killam Fellowships Program and the Network on North American Studies in Canada. Through these programs, and related activities, the Foundation supports scholarship and research, and encourages public discourse, aimed at enhancing the relationship between Canada and the United States.

Seventy Years On: New Perspectives on the Second World War

The University of Calgary is hosting an “international conference that will bring together in a single setting some of the newest interpretations of the Second World War.” NNASC is sponsoring a panel on the impact of the Second World War on the Canada-U.S. relationship. The panel features a number of young scholars from across Canada. For more information, click here.

Fall Orientation for 2009-10 Fulbright Scholars, Students and Killam Fellows

The Foundation will be holding its Sixth Annual Orientation for award recipients this September. The Orientation takes place in Ottawa, and features a variety of activities. Spearheaded by the Seventh Annual Elizabeth Killam Rodgers and Constance Killam Distinguished Public Lecture, the schedule also includes academic discussion periods, a question and answer session with Foundation staff, and a plethora of cultural activities, including the traditional Fulbright pick-up hockey game. For more information, click here.

7th Annual Elizabeth Killam Rodgers & Constance Killam Distinguished Public Lecture

This year's lecture will feature Mr. Cory Doctorow - an internationally recognized science fiction author, activist, journalist, blogger, and Fulbright alum. His lecture, entitled "Diplomacy versus Universal Access to All Human Knowledge" will be held at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade at 5:00pm on Thursday, September 17th, and is open to all members of the public. The reception will also feature the formal launch of our new website. For a small biography on Cory Doctorow, please click here. For more information, please contact Jennifer Regan at 613-688-5517.

Recruitment 2009

Throughout the month of October, members of the Foundation's secretariat will be touring institutions in both Canada and the United States to talk about the great opportunity available to students and scholars in both countries. For more information on our recruitment schedule click here. If you are a representative of an institution and you wish to promote the program, please click here for some recruitment materials for both the Fulbright Canada program and the Killam fellowships program.

Debating the Implications of a Human Right to Water

Fulbright Canada and the Network on North American Studies in Canada (NNASC) were pleased to support the participation of two exceptional American scholars in the recent symposium 'Water as a Human Right: Context and Consequences' hosted by the Faculty of Law and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa. David Getches, Dean of the University of Colorado Law School (left) and Gabriel Eckstein, Professor of Law and George W. McCleskey Chair in Water Law, as well as Director of the Center for Water Law and Policy at Texas Tech University (right) traveled to Ottawa to take part in this event. The symposium, which brought together academics, practitioners, and policymakers, endeavored to address a broad range of legal and policy questions relating to water in the North American context. For more information about this event, and to view a video of the symposium proceedings, please go to http://www.waterandhumanrights.uottawa.ca/.

Association for the Study of Higher Education 2009 Conference

Graeme Cunningham, External Relations Officer for the Foundation for Educational Exchange will be presenting findings from our study on Student and Scholar Mobility Between Canada and the United States. For more information on the study, please click here. For more information on the conference, please click here.

Canadian Bureau for International Education 2009 Conference: International Effectiveness: Strategies for Success

Graeme Cunningham, External Relations Officer for the Foundation for Educational Exchange will be appearing on a panel with Jennifer Humphries of the CBIE, and Chris Greenshields from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, to discuss Innovations in mobility programs. For more information on the study, please click here. For more information on the conference, please click here.

Board of Directors Meeting

The Board of the Directors of the Foundation for Educational Exchange Between Canada and the United States will be holding the annual fall meeting in Miami, Florida. To see a list of the current Board of Directors, and to read their respective bios, click here .

ACSUS Conference, San Diego

The Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) will be having its annual conference in San Diego and the CEO of the Foundation for Educational Exchange, Dr. Michael Hawes, and the External Relations Officer, Graeme Cunningham, will be speaking on various panels on Saturday, November 21, 2009. For more information on the conference, please visit the ACSUS conference site, here.

Angela Loder
Canadian Fulbright Student
Home: University of Toronto
Host: City of Chicago

“There are things that you can understand intellectually, but to really understand how they change and influence a city, you need to live there. Loving architecture, I joined the Chicago Architecture and learned that Chicago has a rich history of swing dancing and big band music, and have actually been learning how to swing dance myself... I feel that I am only beginning to understand all the nuances of life here and feel that further cultural exchange would help both countries to understand from and learn from one another. I am grateful for the opportunity provided by the Canada-US Fulbright Program to experience this professionally and personally rewarding year.”

Nina Schwartzman
American Killam Fellow
Home: Smith College
Host: Université de Montréal

Nina is part of the 2009-2010 cohort of Killam Fellows. Nina will be studying Chemistry and French Studies at the université de Montréal.

Sonia Gunderson
American Fulbright Student
Nunavut Research Institute

“I had been to Igloolik to write magazine articles, and experience the people; however, it was entirely different to live there as a member of the community. This experience provided me with an opportunity to deepen my perspective of Igloolik, to begin to feel its pulse. When I had a chance to become friends with people on an everyday basis, without the constrictions of a limited timeframe, or a highly focused topic and publication deadline, I began to get a sense of how the community works, to discover what the real concerns and issues of people are, what events are having an impact on their lives, how they relate to one another and outsiders, how they respond to different seasons of the year, among other things”.

Kerri Shadid
American Fulbright Student
Home: University of Oklahoma
Host: McGill University

“I have had the wonderful experience of visiting many ethnic neighborhoods in Montréal and Toronto, and I feel as though I have traveled far beyond the borders of Canada. While I have always loved to learn about other cultures and to travel, the relationships I have developed and the experiences I have had in this one year in Canada have increased my cultural understanding exponentially. [...] For me, the cultural and personal growth that I experienced this year was the most important part of my Fulbright experience. It also taught me that one can find life-changing multicultural experiences in the most unlikely places, if you are willing to search for them.”

Michal Depa
Canadian Killam Fellow
Home: McGill University
Host: MIT

“The thing that surprised me the most was the diversity of the United States. At MIT, I met very interesting people from all parts of the country and quickly realized that they were all very different from each other, as well as from Canadians. It was fascinating having conversations with them about different topics, ranging from politics to their personal beliefs, because many of their view points were completely unexpected, and confirmed how little I actually knew about them.”

Sukumar Periwal
Canadian Fulbright Scholar
Home: Government of British Columbia
Host: University of Washington

“The Fulbright experience has given me the opportunity to engage more deeply with American students and professional colleagues, and to build stronger linkages that will last well into the future. The Fulbright program is an important bridge linking the United States with Canada and other countries, especially important in the current global context.”

Zosia Brown
Canadian Fulbright Student
Home: University of British Columbia
Host: Carnegie Mellon University

“Reflecting on the ‘cultural architecture' of a working class Pittsburgh neighbourhood, I noticed that buildings were older, and each house seemed to have a story to tell, with cracking brick walls and sagging verandas. I noticed a number of flags draping from doorways and windows, and recognized a national pride that until that point I had only read about.”

Michael Haughton
Canadian Fulbright Scholar
Visiting Chair in Transborder Studies, Arizona State University

“I will come away from this Fulbright experience with a deep sense of gratitude, respect, and humility. The all-round generosity and dedication of the people at the North American Center for Transboundry Studies at Arizona State makes it easy for me to continue my relationship with the people and with the institution. The cultural aspects that flow from the human connection, particularly as it relates to providing opportunities for me to learn about Arizona's culture and the culture of the other nationals, are prized pieces of this Fulbright experience.”

Jack Corbett
American Fulbright Scholar
University of Alberta Visiting Research Chair

“As a Fulbright chair in Canada, and two terms as a Fulbright senior specialist in Mexico, my experiences allowed me to leverage a number of follow-on projects in both Canada and Mexico, including ongoing active engagement with colleagues and annual student programs. A direct consequence of my 2005 Fulbright at the University of Alberta is an on-going effort to bring some Canadian World Heritage sites into a North American alliance.”

Patrick Bélanger
Canadian Fulbright Student
Home: Simon Fraser University
Host: University of Southern California

“My experience as a Canada-U.S. Fulbright student has been exceptionally rewarding. The intellectual community at USC is robust and diverse, and the School of Communication, is especially so. The school's international focus, along with its location in Los Angeles, makes it an exciting and relevant site for my current studies. Entering a new program and field of study has challenged my preconceptions of academia and provided a much expanded appreciation for the array of perspectives undertaken in both the humanities and social sciences.”

Cory Doctorow
Canadian Fulbright Scholar
Fulbright Visiting Chair in Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California

“I published dozens of papers, thousands of blog-posts, and gave dozens of speeches. My classes attracted hundreds of “virtual auditors” who listened in via podcast and participated via the class blog, and the lecture series drew thousands of podcast listeners and is widely cited by practitioners in their work. I laid the groundwork for a major book on my subject.”

The Fulbright Canada Eco-Leadership Program

Fulbright Canada congratulates the winners of the 2009-2010 Eco-Leadership Program. These 11 outstanding individuals will receive between $2000 and $4000 to participate in a series of events, programs or activities from all across both Canada and the United States.
For updates on each of the projects, please return to this site soon. Or, subscribe to the Fulbright Canada blog to receive updates and news on Eco-Leadership Program events taking place near you.
For more general information on the program, click here.

Deborah Lightman
Canadian Fulbright Student
Home: McGill University
Host: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Deborah is part of the 2009-2010 cohort of Fulbright grantees. She is a masters student, studying environmental policy and urban planning at McGill University. Deborah will spend the next twelve months at MIT, studying “Processes in Environmental Policy and Planning: Consensus Building in Bilateral Water Relations.”