Fulbright Association connects people, nations — and UND

September 19, 2024

Published in: Mechanical Engineering

Brand-new North Dakota chapter promotes cultural exchange to grow global understanding and innovation

Lavinia Iancu, president of the North Dakota Chapter of the Fulbright Association, addresses the crowd at the organization’s inaugural meeting Saturday in UND’s Memorial Union. Iancu said the chapter already has received a positive response statewide. “We have a lot of plans and initiatives,” she said. “We’re reaching out to the tribal colleges and high schools. We want to have the young people aware of this wonderful opportunity before they even begin enrolling in college.” Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

Julia Westin, a double-major in Political Science and Spanish, says she one day hopes to work with a nonprofit organization to support international development and relief services.

Ally Kujath, a double-major in Political Science and Business Economics, aspires to fight for women’s rights worldwide.

The UND seniors — already leaders with ambitious goals to make the world a better place — were among more than four dozen students, faculty and others gathered from across the state Saturday for the inaugural meeting of the North Dakota Chapter of the Fulbright Association in UND’s Memorial Union.

The brand-new chapter, just launched this spring, is an extension of the Fulbright Association, a network of Fulbright Program alumni and enthusiasts who support prospective applicants and awardees by promoting cultural exchanges around the globe for scholars, artists, researchers and other professionals.

“This roomful of talent represents our future’s changemakers,” said Yee Han Chu, UND’s academic support and fellowship opportunities coordinator and new Fulbright Program Advisor mentor. “We look forward to helping them get started on their personal journeys to make a difference.”

UND seniors Julia Westin (left) and Ally Kujath (center) visit with chapter secretary Allison Johansen. Both seniors plan to apply for a prestigious Fulbright award. UND Today also spoke to Randi Tanglen, UND’s vice provost for Faculty Affairs, at the event. She had this to say: “I want to thank Dr. Chu and Dr. Iancu for their leadership on this initiative. I’m absolutely thrilled to see the state chapter formed here at UND because it’s great for both our students and our faculty. The Fulbright exchange for faculty really is its own type of credential. It’s a high-level, impressive fellowship, and it contributes to our culture of faculty excellence.” Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

Shining a light on the Fulbright

Started in 1946 and led by the U.S. Department of State in partnership with more than 160 countries, the Fulbright has helped to build mutual understanding and friendly relations — one by one and 400,000 times over — between Americans and the greater global community.

“The primary goal of this inaugural meeting is to underscore the significance of the Fulbright Association and the opportunities it provides,” said Romanian-born Fulbright alum Lavinia Iancu, director and assistant professor of UND’s Forensic Science program and first president of the North Dakota Fulbright Chapter.

“As an international Fulbright alum, I personally can attest to the transformative power of the Fulbright experience. I know it sounds cliche, but it truly changed my life,” Iancu told the crowd before cracking them up with a joke about culture shock. “During my Fulbright experience at Sam Houston State University, I learned that if you can survive the Texas heat, you can survive anything — though North Dakota winters are a whole different challenge.”

But while in Texas, Iancu did far more than research outdoor vs. indoor body decomposition. She said she also had to adapt to an environment, culture and customs entirely different than her own.

“It allowed me to evolve as a researcher and as a faculty member,” she said. “I was empowered and inspired to bring back a wealth of enthusiasm and knowledge to share with my peers and students back home. It is what I like to call the ‘Fulbright effect,’ and it is what I hope each of you also will experience … because for me, it truly was life-changing.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities the Fulbright afforded me, and I’m looking forward to what we can do together to make a significant impact on our state and the world by embracing new opportunities to promote mutual understanding, innovation and collaboration.”

Members of the UND Korean Culture Exchange Club perform an energetic K-pop dance routine at the inaugural meeting of the North Dakota Chapter of the Fulbright Association. Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

Getting to know our global neighbors

That was a sentiment shared by others at the inaugural meeting marked by multiple speakers, a luncheon, an open exchange of ideas and cultural entertainment in the form of a lively K-pop dance routine by members of the UND Korean Culture Exchange Club, as well as a beautiful ballad sung by Mechanical Engineering doctoral student Imteaz Osmani, representing the Bangladesh Student Association.

As vice president of the North Dakota Fulbright Chapter, Fulbright alum Paul Sum spoke of his time lecturing at Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania.

“What was one of the most impactful experiences was my opportunity to teach in Romania,” said Sum, also a professor of Political Science and Public Administration at UND. “It really embraced the core values of Fulbright in that it was not me going there to instruct — it was me going there to learn.

“And I learned from my Romanian colleagues and Romanian students. I think I learned more about the United States than I imparted to them, but that’s all part of the process. Fulbright is about exchange and learning and humbling oneself to the rest of the world while imparting those values at the same time.”

UND Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Eric Link is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. He started out his remarks Saturday by reading from the national organization’s vision and mission statement. Then, he added: “The richness the experience brings to our lives — personally, and to our communities, our states and our nation — is immeasurable. The vision of a peaceful planet with cooperative endeavor as a primary driving force is a powerful vision.” Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

You don’t know what you don’t know

UND Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Eric Link shared a story about his own humbling experience while working as a Fulbright Scholar in the English Philology Department at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk, Ukraine.

He opened by saying that he was “intellectually aware” that he was not going to a wealthy country and that he, too, came from a family of very working-class roots.

“But still, if we wanted to go to a restaurant and get a pizza, we didn’t think much about that in the United States,” he said.

So, while in Ukraine, he didn’t think it unusual to ask his colleagues if they’d like to grab a bite to eat together after work. He extended the invitation more than once, he said, but each time he was turned down with “a very polite no, I can’t do that tonight or, maybe next week.”

That was until the very last week when one of the lead professors in his department said, “Hey, we should do that restaurant trip. Let’s go out to dinner tonight.”

So, the two of them did just that and spent an enjoyable evening talking and laughing over a meal in a nice, but modest, restaurant. At the end of the night, they split the bill and went their separate ways.

“You would think the story would end there, but here’s where it became a huge learning experience for me,” Link continued.

It was a couple of days later when he heard that the entire monthly salary for professors in his department was equal to what he paid for only his half of that dinner tab.

“It was like my entire life pivoted in that moment,” Link said. “Here I had just casually paid for one meal in that restaurant and this professor had committed a month’s salary to go to dinner with me. Such a simple thing literally changed my life forever.

“I learned so much about myself and the people of Ukraine. The whole culture of that nation became different to me in that one moment of clarity. I came back from my Fulbright a different human being. I saw the whole world and the people of the world differently.”

North Dakota State Sen. Jonathan Sickler, R-District 17, encouraged attendees at the inaugural meeting to “be cheerleaders for the Upper Midwest … Don’t let our niceness mean bashfulness. Let’s not miss out on any opportunities we can take advantage of for our higher education institutions, our industries or our state.” Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

Lessons for the heart and the heartland

After North Dakota State Sen. Jonathan Sickler, R-District 17, congratulated the Fulbright alumni in the audience, he thanked the board members seated beside him — Iancu, Chu, Sum, as well as UND’s Allison Johansen, Pempho Chinkondenji and Yun Ji, and Divine Tarla of Bridges ICT, Bismarck — for taking the giant leap to create the state chapter.

Next, he had another message to share:

“A Fulbright is truly an impressive recognition — a sign of what might be to come in a very successful future career. But what do you do after you have won that highly sought, highly competitive, prestigious award? What do you do with that?

“You could choose to hold it close to the chest and use it to advance your own academic or personal career.”

Or, he suggested, you could think more broadly.

“You could go beyond what you’re doing personally and professionally and find ways you can share that experience with your colleagues, your students, your campuses and the communities you live in.”

Sickler encouraged every Fulbright Scholar and every member of the new North Dakota Fulbright Chapter to be advocates for the state.

To past, present and current Fulbright Scholars, he said: “Become a subject matter expert on North Dakota. Know your state, because I suspect when you’re having these experiences and interacting with people all around the world, you’re likely the first person they’ve ever met from North Dakota.”

Further, Sickler told them to be connectors who look for opportunities to partner in research and industry.

“The fact that you’re all here today probably makes it clear what path you’ve chosen,” he said. “Be leaders. Be accessible. Be ambassadors for your state and your institutions.

Algerian Ibtissem Belmihoub (right, back to camera) listens intently to the speakers at Saturday’s inaugural meeting of the North Dakota Chapter of the Fulbright Association. Belmihoub was a 2013-15 Fulbright Scholar at North Dakota State University, where she earned a master’s and doctorate in Rhetoric & Writing. “The Fulbright is truly life-changing. Had I not gone on Fulbright, I would have had a completely different life trajectory,” she said. “Fulbright allowed me to connect with a lot of different cultures I would not have been able to connect with otherwise. Both personally and professionally, I was able to grow and see the world in a very different light. You hear about interconnectedness, but you don’t really experience it unless you do something like this.” Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.

Back to those UND seniors …

The day’s powerful messages certainly were not lost on UND seniors and Fulbright hopefuls Westin and Kujath.

Westin is applying for a Fulbright that would allow her to earn her master’s degree in Helsinki. And Kujath wants to explore the culture in South America, maybe Brazil or Argentina.

“The Fulbright is such an amazing program, and I think it really would help me in my career path,” Westin said. “I’ve been able to study abroad in Spain, and that really opened my eyes to so many different ways of life. You learn so much because people bring their culture with them no matter where they are.”

Kujath, another study-abroad veteran, lived a summer in France.

“I come from a very small town in southern Minnesota, and it just opened so many doors for me. I was able to make so many connections with people from all across the globe with so many different perspectives and backgrounds,” she said. “I think it’s really important to be an active global citizen, and an opportunity like the Fulbright would be the perfect way to achieve that.”

>> See for yourself: Take in the inaugural meeting by watching the video.

>> Want to learn more about the Fulbright experience? Contact Yee Han Chu at yee.chu@UND.edu or 701.777.4436.

>> For news and updates: Go to the North Dakota Fulbright website at northdakota.fulbrightchapters.org.