Feng and Hatarbach Received Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Awards

August 26, 2016

Hui Feng of China and Zakaria Hatarbach of Morocco have been awarded a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program grant to serve as teaching assistants in Chinese and Arabic, respectively, and to study at Georgia Southern University for academic year 2016-2017. While in the United States, Ms. Feng and Mr. Hatarbach will share their language and culture with U.S. communities in order to inspire Americans to travel and study overseas and to prepare U.S. citizens to engage with businesses, governments, and organizations abroad.

Feng and Hatarbach are two of nearly 400 young educators from 50 countries who will travel to the United States in the 2016-2017 academic year through the Fulbright FLTA Program to help internationalize U.S. colleges and universities, a key goal of many institutions as they prepare students for today’s workforce and globalized world. Recipients of Fulbright FLTA grants are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership potential. Fulbright FLTA scholarships are awarded by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

In the coming year, grant recipients from East Asia and the Pacific; from Europe and Eurasia; from the Middle East and North Africa; from South and Central Asia; and from Sub-Saharan Africa will contribute to U.S. students’ foreign-language acquisition in more than 30 languages at over 200 U.S. institutions. 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. Participating governments, universities, corporations, and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The Fulbright Program has given approximately 360,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.  Since 2001, more than 4,000 Fulbright awardees have been Fulbright FLTAs.

Fulbright FLTA recipients are among over 50,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. The Fulbright FLTA Program is administered by the Institute of International Education.

Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in government, science, the arts, business, philanthropy, education, and many other fields. Fifty-three Fulbright alumni from 13 countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize, and 82 alumni have received Pulitzer Prizes. Prominent Fulbright alumni include: Muhammad Yunus, founder, Grameen Bank, and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient; Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia; John Hope Franklin, noted American historian and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Riccardo Giacconi, physicist and 2002 Nobel Laureate; Amar Gopal Bose founder, Bose Corporation; Renée Fleming, soprano; Jonathan Franzen, writer; and Daniel Libeskind, architect.