From the Executive Director of the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission

Dr. Dorina Gutu

It is a great honor for me to be the new Executive Director of the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission. Four years ago I was a Fulbright Fellow at Stanford University. During my study stage in the United States I have learned many things about the Fulbright Program, the vision of its creator, and about what it means to be a Fubrighter. I returned a changed person and since then I constantly dedicated myself to reach out to the community and, in the same time, to give something in return to the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission.

2008 was a busy year for the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission. We continued our work of selecting the most talented and gifted Romanian students, scholars and researchers to study in the U.S. 21 Romanian Fulbright junior and senior grantees will pursue their study dreams in the United States this year. We are proud of them and confident that upon returning home, they will dedicate themselves to reaching out to their communities. We are also proud to welcome the 14 American grantees that chose to come to Romania to teach courses and develop their very projects. The Commission’s work was marvelously complemented by the work of the Fulbright Educational Advising Center, the foremost source of information in Romania on U.S. higher education. The Center touched the lives of almost 7000 students. 144 completed the application process and 53 of them were admitted to universities in the US while 21 chose to enroll in Europe.

To increase the number of grants and maintain the high-quality of the programs, the Commission has started several initiatives to attract funds from private and public companies interested in supporting outstanding educational initiatives. Thanks to the generous support of several sponsors and partners, 5 Romanian gifted students were awarded grants to study in the U.S. this year.

Sincere appreciation is due our sponsors and partners, the Romanian Government and the U.S. Embassy in Romania and the Board of Directors for their constant support. We are committed to maintain the Commission the best organization for international academic exchange programs, and to develop new and exciting projects with a long lasting positive impact on the development process of the Romanian society.