The Western New York/Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association will hold "A World of Opportunities" from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 13, 2002, in Bacon Hall 117 at Buffalo State College.

The program is free and open to the public. Michael K. Hawes, executive director of the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program, is the keynote speaker. Also speaking are Frances Holmes, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Services Buffalo Office, who will present "Immigration Policies and Higher Education," and Mark Jubilus, director and assistant professor of political science at Gannon University and vice president of the Western New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association, who will present "How to Get a Fulbright."

Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College; Richard Lundquist, national president of the Fulbright Association; Ted Schwalbe, president of the Western New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association; and Jean Gounard, director of International Student Affairs and vice president for advocacy and a past president of the Western New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association, will also speak.

The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship program in international education exchange, was proposed to Congress in 1945 by Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, who saw the proposed program as a much-needed vehicle for promoting "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world" in the aftermath of World War II. His vision was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1946.

Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since its inception, the program has given more than 250,000 participants chosen for their leadership potential the opportunity to observe each other's political, economic and cultural institutions - foreign academics and professionals who have taught or conducted research in the U.S. as visiting Fulbright Scholars and U.S. faculty and professionals who have engaged in similar activities in more than 140 countries abroad in a wide variety of academic and professional fields ranging from journalism and urban planning to music and zoology.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars assists in the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals. Overseas, it is administered by bi-national Fulbright Commissions or by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassies. The presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board is responsible for the final selection of all Fulbright grantees and the supervision of the Fulbright Program worldwide. An annual appropriation made by the Congress to the Department of State primarily funds the Fulbright Program.

For more information, contact Gounard by phone at (716) 878-5331 or email at gounarjf@buffalostate.edu.