Dr. Nneka Nora Osakwe, Executive Director of the Center for Transformational Student Experiences (CTSE), the Provost’s Special Assistant for Internationalization and Global Engagement, and a Professor of English at Albany State University (ASU), Georgia, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Senegal and France for the 2025 academic year. The award is granted by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Her objectives for the program include creating new avenues for ASU to build partnerships in France and Senegal, where none currently exist. She aims to develop both virtual and in-person exchange programs, initiate faculty research collaborations with local universities, and identify opportunities to increase international student enrollment at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Additionally, she is focused on fostering cultural and intercultural communication initiatives that can enhance global engagement across ASU’s academic community.

Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators, and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutions abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange—inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges.

Notable Fulbright scholars include 62 Nobel Laureates, 90 Pulitzer Prize winners, 82 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government, and thousands of leaders across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program annually. In addition, more than 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants—recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals—participate in study/research exchanges or serve as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.

Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. government. Participating governments, host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide. In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit https://fulbrightprogram.org