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Harriet Mayor Fulbright Biography

Harriet Mayor Fulbright is President of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, a non-profit organization which serves to advance the work of Ms. Fulbright’s late husband, Senator J. William Fulbright, and to continue her own lifework. The purpose of the Fulbright Center is to promote world peace and nonviolent means of resolving conflicts through international collaborations and education programs. The Fulbright Center partners with higher education institutions and interested individuals — students, teachers, scholars, and leaders — throughout the world in a range of services from assisting in building enriched study abroad programs to actively engaging higher education institutions in international peace making. The Fulbright Center has completed production on an hour-long documentary on the life of Senator J. William Fulbright. This documentary, available on DVD, is titled, Fulbright: The Man, the Mission, and the Message.

Ms. Fulbright has spent the majority of her adult life in the fields of education and the arts.  From 1997 until 2000 she was the Executive Director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, whose mission is to encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to enhance cultural life in America.  Prior to this position she served as “Unofficial Ambassador” for the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright Program and in that capacity she traveled to numerous countries on all five major continents and all over the United States to speak about the importance of international education exchange and the pivotal role played by the Fulbright Program.

Her teaching experience is extensive.  While living in Korea she taught English composition and creative writing at Ewha Women’s University, and in Moscow taught non-English speaking first graders to speak and read English.  In the United States she taught art at several institutions, including the Maret School and American University.  In 1980 she was elected “Teacher of the Year” at the Maret School.

Her administrative experience is also wide ranging.  When the Congressional Arts Caucus was formed on Capitol Hill she was its first Assistant Director, and she was later appointed Executive Secretary of the International Congress of Art Historians at the National Gallery’s Center for the Advanced Study in the Arts.  In 1987 she became the Executive Director of the Fulbright Association, where she served for 3 years, moving it from Bryn Mawr to Washington and giving it more visibility and professionalism.  From 1990 to 1996 she was President of the Center for Arts in the Basic Curriculum, an organization which advocated education reform and conducted teacher training seminars.

For the last decade her lecture tours have been worldwide. She has been invited to give talks on such diverse topics as the vital role of international education exchange, arts education and its importance, the life of Senator J. William Fulbright, leadership and human progress, September 11th and its impact, and life as a cancer patient.

Ms. Fulbright has a BA from Radcliffe College and an MFA from the George Washington University. She has also received Honorary Degrees: a Doctorate in Law from the University of Scranton, Doctorates in Humane Letters from Long Island University and from the Bank Street College of Education, a Doctorate from Pace University, and a Doctorate in Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. She was inducted as an Honorary Bennett Fellow of the School of International Studies, Oklahoma State University. Panama presented her with its highest civilian award – El Orden de Manuel Amador Guerrero - and the Republic of Hungary gave her a similar honor – the Middle Cross of the Order of Merit. Ms. Fulbright was awarded the Order of Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, for service to educational and cultural exchange between Australia and the United States

She also serves on a number of boards, including the Wendy and Emory Reves Center for International Studies, the International Child Arts Foundation, and the International Institute of Leadership and Public Affairs where she is chairman; the Academy of Educational Development and the National Foreign Language Center.

Ms. Fulbright shared with her late husband a dedication to the search for peaceful solutions to conflicts throughout the world.

Harriet Mayor Fulbright Resume

WORK EXPERIENCE

Current
President, J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center

2000-2003          
Chairman, International Child Art Foundation, Washington, DC

1997-2000
Executive Director, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

1996-1997
Official Ambassador for the 50th Anniversary Fulbright Program celebrations. 
Delivered more than 35 speeches in 15 different countries and 18 cities around the U.S.

1990-96
 President, Center for Arts in the Basic Curriculum, Washington, DC
Organization concerned with advocacy of  educational reform and teacher training

1988-92 
 Coordinator, Washington Area Senior Fulbright Program
 Started and administered program

1987-91
Executive Director, Fulbright Association, Washington, DC
Set up the Fulbright alumni association in Washington, DC

1984-87
Executive Secretary, XXVIth International Congress of the History of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

1982-84
Assistant Director, Alliance of Independent Colleges of Art, Washington, DC.

1981-82
Assistant Director, Congressional Arts Caucus, Washington, DC.


TEACHING

1975-81
Chairman, Art Department, Maret School, Washington, DC

1972-75
Adjunct Professor, American University, Montgomery College, Washington area

1964-69
Art Teacher, Rippowam School, Bedford New York

1961-63
English Teacher, of non-English speaking students, Moscow, USSR

1958-60
English Professor, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, Korea


EDUCATION

MFA, George Washington University, Washington, DC
BA, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA


PUBLICATIONS

  • "How to Start Your Own Preschool Playgroup" (Universe Books, New York, NY)

  • “The Fulbright Program at Fifty: Its Importance and Its Outlook” (American Studies in Europe, Issue No. 38, May 1997)

  • "The Congressional Arts Caucus" (Southwest Art, October, 1981)

  • "The Arts at the Heart of Learning" (Stagebill, Kennedy Center, November 1993)

Numerous articles, over 100 speeches on education, creativity, the importance of arts and humanities, leadership, the Fulbright Program and the work of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
 

HONORS

  • Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy and Physics from Stevens Institute of Technology, 2006

  • Honorary Degree in Humane Letters from Pace University, 2006

  • Awarded the Order of Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, for service to educational and cultural exchange between Australia and the United States, 2006

  • Honorary Bennett Fellow of the School of International Studies, Oklahoma State University, 2006

  • Cassandra Pyle Award for extraordinary leadership to enhance the role of international education in promoting the increased capacity of individual students and other citizens to contribute to world peace, national security and improved communications among the people of the world, National Association of Foreign Students Affairs (NAFSA), 2005

  • Rotary/One Person of the Year Award , Rotary International, 2005

  • Hubert H. Humphrey Humanities Award, Association of Teachers of Social Science, 2004

  • Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, University of Development Studies, Ghana, 2004

  • Middle Cross of the Order of Merit, Republic of Hungary, 2002

  • Arts in Education Award, Fillmore Art Center, 2001

  • Fulbright Award for Contribution to International Understanding, 2000

  • El Orden de Manuel Amador Guerrero, Panama’s highest civilian award, 1997

  • Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Bank Street College of Education, 2000

  • Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Long Island University, 1997

  • Honorary Doctorate of Law, University of Scranton, 1996

  • Young Audiences Honoree of the Year, 1994

  • Maharishi Award for contributions to international understanding through
    education, 1989

  • Teacher of the Year, Maret School, 1980


CIVIC AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Member of the Board of:

  • Academy for Educational Development

  • Center for Quality Assurance in International Education

  • Fulbright International Center (President)

  • International Institute for Leadership and Public Affairs, Istanbul, Turkey (Chair)

  • The National Foreign Language Center

  • Wendy & Emery Reves Center for International Studies (Chair)

  • US Cuba Policy Project, Center for National Policy


 

Harriet Mayor Fulbright

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