The Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt
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About the Commission
The Fulbright Legacy

J. William Fulbright was born in Missouri in 1905. He was educated at the University of Arkansas and at Oxford University, where, as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned an M.A. degree.

Fulbright was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1944 and served there from 1945 through 1974. In 1949 he became a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and from 1959 to 1974 he was its chairman, the longest serving chairman of that committee in history. Fulbright became one of the most influential and best-known members of the Senate. In 1963 Walter Lippman said, "The role he plays in Washington is indispensable. There is no one else who is so powerful and also so wise?" Today he is best remembered for the legislation establishing the Fulbright Program, which passed without debate in 1946. The first participants traveled in 1948. Since then more than 310,000 "Fulbrighters" have participated in the program.

"Of all of the joint ventures in which we might engage, Fulbright later said of the program,"the most productive is educational exchange Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can, to the humanizing of international relations."

   

The Mandate

The Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt was established in 1949, and is the oldest and largest Fulbright program in the Arab world. Since 1949 nearly 5,000 scholars have been American Fulbrighters in Egypt or Egyptian Fulbrighters in the United States. Now in its sixth decade of operation, the Commission pursues an unchanged mandate: to cultivate mutual understanding by nourishing mutual educational exchange. And to do it one Fulbrighter at a time, so that every Fulbrighter is better prepared to pursue what Senator J. William Fulbright called the "essence of intercultural education: empathy, the ability to see the world as others see it, and to allow for the possibility that others may see something we have failed to see…."

The Board of Directors

Dr. Galal Eldin H. Elgemeie (Chair)
First Undersecretary for Cultural Affairs and Missions
Ministry of Higher Education

Mr. Thomas Thomason (Vice Chair)
Chief Executive Officer
Egyptian Refining Company

Mr. Andrew Mitchell (Treasurer)
Cultural Affairs Officer
U.S. Embassy

Prof. Essam Khamis Ibrahim
Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Research
Alexandria University

Dr. Hossam Kamel Mahmoud
President of Cairo University
Cairo University

Dr. Ashraf Mahmoud Hatem
Secretary General
Supreme Council of Universities

The Staff

Executive Director: Ms. Elizabeth B. Khalifa

Assistant to the Executive Director: Ms. Reem El Hassan

Administration: Elizabeth B. Khalifa (Manager), Mr. Ali Zein El Din, Ms. Eman R. Gerges, Ms. Nehad Nabil, Mr. Youssry Mahdy

Alumni Affairs and Special Projects: Ms. Safaa Abbadi (Manager)

American Program: Ms. Ranya Rashed (Manager), Ms. Amira Ibrahim, Ms. Eman Shaker

Community College Initiative: Ms. Dina Hassan

Egyptian Program: Ms. Nevine Gad El Mawla (Manager), Ms. Iman Hegazy, Ms. Dina Gaafar, Ms. Deena Omar

Finance: Mr. Ashraf Ismail (Manager), Mr. Mohamed Abdel Rassoul



Office Hours

Sunday-Thursday, 08:30-16:30

Public Holidays in 2013

Tue 1-Jan New Years Day    
Mon 7-Jan Christmas Day (Coptic)    
*Thu 24-Jan Moulid El Nabi (Islamic)    
Fri 25-Jan Revolution Day   Observed Sun 27-Jan
Thu 25-Apr Sinai Liberation Day  
Sun 28-Apr Palm Sunday (Coptic)  
Wed 1-May Labor Day (EG)
Sun 5-May Easter Sunday (Coptic)
Mon 6-May Sham El Nassim (EG)
Mon 27-May Memorial Day (US)   Observed Sun 26-May
Thu 4-Jul Independence Day (US)  
Tue 23-Jul Revolution Day (EG)    
*Thu 8-Aug Eid Al Fitr (Islamic)    
*Fri 9-Aug Eid Al Fitr (Islamic)   Observed Sun 11-Aug
*Sat 10-Aug Eid Al Fitr (Islamic)   Observed Mon 12-Aug
Mon 2-Sep Labor Day (US)   Observed Sun 1-Sep
Sun 6-Oct Armed Forces Day (EG)  
Mon 14-Oct Columbus Day (US) Observed Sund 13-Oct
*Mon 14-Oct Eid El Adha (Islamic)  
*Tue 15-Oct Eid El Adha (Islamic)  
*Wed 16-Oct Eid El Adha (Islamic)
*Thu 17-Oct Eid El Adha (Islamic)
Mon 4-Nov New Years Day (Islamic)  
Thu 28-Nov Thanksgiving Day (US)
Wed 25-Dec Christmas Day
 
*Blue = American Holidays
*Green = Egyptian Holidays
* Islamic holidays are based on a lunar calendar and may vary.

 

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