Morgan State University Continues Designation as a Fulbright Program ‘HBCU Institutional Leader’

For Third Consecutive Year, U.S. Dept. of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Recognizes University’s Top Fulbright Producer Status Among All HBCUs

BALTIMORE — For a third consecutive year, Morgan State University (MSU) was designated as a Fulbright Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Institutional Leader by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Established to distinguish and commend HBCUs who have fostered strong partnerships with the ECA’s Fulbright Program, Institutional Leaders are named annually to increase Fulbright engagement and help students, faculty and staff to study, teach or conduct research abroad. Morgan was included among only19 institutions to receive the honor. 

“The distinction of being named a Fulbright Institutional Leader is an honor that we hold with great reverence here at the National Treasure,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “The foundation upon which the Fulbright Program was established—producing leaders with global perspectives through the immersive service-learning and research opportunities around the world—is an exemplar we not only embrace but are honored to espouse as Morgan remains a staunch advocate for study abroad. Fulbright continues to be one of the most distinguished and competitive awards granted in academia and we look forward to adding more awardees through the collective efforts of Honors College and Division of International Affairs.”

The 2022 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders announcement was made in advance of the White House Initiative on HBCUs National HBCU Week Conference which is scheduled to draw attendance from HBCU leaders from across the nation. Assembled conference attendees will learn firsthand about the ECA’s Fulbright Program, research abroad opportunities and career recruitment fair.

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Lee Satterfield commended the 2022 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders, noting that “HBCUs are an important part of the American and global higher education communities, providing life-changing exchange opportunities for American and international students, faculty, and administrators alike,” and shared her “hope that these institutions’ success encourages all HBCUs to engage further with Fulbright and with the State Department.”

The HBCU Institutional Leader status recognizes engagement across the Fulbright Program, including hosting Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, Scholars-in-Residence, and other Fulbright Students or Scholars as well as having U.S. students, faculty and staff receive Fulbright awards to study, teach or conduct research abroad.

Since aligning with the Fulbright Program in 1951, Morgan has been an active steward in cultivating Fulbright scholars and advancing international study among students and faculty. This longstanding commitment to the program and international exchange has elevated Morgan to the highest echelon of Fulbright production among HBCUs. Morgan has produced 149 Fulbright awardees resulting in international studies in 44 different countries. Additionally, 51 MSU professors or administrators have earned 75 “Senior Fulbright” awards to 42 countries. This accounting of Morgan-produced Fulbright Scholars ranks at the top among all other HBCUs.

Morgan aims to revive its robust study abroad activity following a two-year hiatus on international travel and scholar exchange due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reinstating study abroad and international education activities to pre-pandemic levels is widely anticipated among Morgan’s campus community. The first significant expedition abroad for academic pursuits by Morgan scholars recently concluded prior to the Fall 2022 semester.

M’bare N’gom, Ph.D., dean of Morgan’s James H. Gilliam Jr. College of Liberal Arts, led a five-week, intensive immersion program in Senegal, the coastal nation of West Africa. Made possible by a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) grant, fifteen U.S. educators and students learned firsthand about Senegalese culture, history, education and African traditions. The project titled, “Senegal in the New Millennium Challenge. History, Education, Culture and Youth Social and Civic Engagement. Implications for teaching: Youth, Wolof, French and Francophone African Cross-cultural Relations,” provided a framework for while professional development and the creation of curricula to guide teaching the history, culture and educational structures and policies of the western African republic.

The Fulbright-Hays Program, is a Fulbright Program funded by a Congressional appropriation to the United States Department of Education and awards grants to individual U.S. K-14 pre-teachers, teachers and administrators, pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral faculty, as well as to U.S. institutions and organizations.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Since its inception over 75 years ago, the Fulbright Program has given over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad, exchanging ideas, and contributing to finding solutions to important international problems.

About Morgan

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering more than 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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Media Contacts:

Larry Jones or Dell Jackson, for University PR
443-885-3022