Key Points
- Florida State University highlighted its expanding international footprint by honoring both visiting global scholars and domestic Fulbright recipients during a campus reception at the Longmire Building on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
- Florida State University recognized 11 new domestic Fulbright awardees for the 2026–2027 cycle—including four students conducting research in the U.K., Thailand, Spain, and New Zealand through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, and seven faculty members teaching and researching in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Belgium, Vietnam, and India through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.
Florida State University celebrated its expanding global footprint Tuesday, Nov. 10, honoring both visiting international scholars and domestic Fulbright awardees during a reception at the Longmire Building.
Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program is one of the most widely recognized international academic exchange programs. The reception highlighted FSU’s newest class of Fulbright recipients for the 2026–2027 cycle.
Four current and former FSU students earned scholarships through the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program to conduct research in the U.K., Thailand, Spain and New Zealand. In addition, seven FSU faculty members will travel to teach and conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Belgium, Vietnam and India.
FSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs James Clark delivered welcoming remarks.
“This is a special occasion to recognize FSU students and faculty who have received the Fulbright Awards,” Clark said. “Fulbright calls people and ideas together across borders, and we’re really proud that FSU has consistently been recognized as a top producer of both faculty and student Fulbright recipients.”
This year, Vice President for Student Affairs Amy Hecht received the Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) Award, giving her the opportunity to strengthen FSU’s global engagement while exploring higher education systems abroad.
In October, Hecht spent two weeks in France for a program focused on the country’s higher education and research system. The program included briefings, campus visits, meetings with government officials and international education professionals, networking opportunities and cultural activities.
Hecht also met with French students during her visit.
“They are dealing with many of the same things our students deal with like loneliness, mental health, affordability, and anxiety about the future,” she said. “It was interesting to see that we are still experiencing very much of the same challenges.”
Andrés Gallo, a music composition doctoral student and Fulbright Foreign Student Program recipient from Colombia, also spoke at the event.
“Today, I celebrate that Fulbright recognizes the power of musical thinking alongside all the other fields of knowledge represented here today,” Gallo said. “Thank you, FSU Fulbright, for making room in our community for art because nowadays, with AI, art has become maybe our last truly human manifestation. I hope to continue carrying the spirit of this exchange into my work and eventually carry it back home with me.”
Nora Underwood, a professor in the Department of Biological Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, earned the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award during the 2024-25 application cycle. During her Fulbright, she conducted new research exploring the impact of climate on the phenology of plants and birds at Stockholm University in Sweden.
“Collectively, the work that my husband, Brian Inoue, who is also faculty in biology at FSU, and I did with colleagues in Sweden helped to launch successful grant proposals and collaborations in Swedish labs,” Underwood said. “But we agree that the most important lesson that we learned in Sweden was the simple act of chatting. It can feel like you are intruding in somebody else’s space to ask them to chat, but our Fulbright experiences have taught us that it is time well spent and a risk worth taking.”
Addressing the cohort of Fulbright scholars and fellows, Assistant Provost for International Initiatives Stephen McDowell emphasized their role as global ambassadors during his closing remarks.
“You’re representing FSU and the United States at an international level,” McDowell said. “We are a part of a global program where we can connect, debate, share ideas and collaborate with each other to address humanity’s most pressing challenges. The Fulbright program is a great part of Florida State’s efforts to reach out to the world, and you scholars and fellows are exemplars and leaders of that tradition.”
The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The U.S. government currently partners with more than 160 countries worldwide.
FSU has participated in the Fulbright Program since 1951 and has been among the nation’s top producers of both faculty and student awards in recent years. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recognized Florida State as a top-producing institution of U.S. Fulbright Scholars in 2025.
If you are a faculty member interested in applying for a Fulbright, contact Peggy Wright-Cleveland, director of Faculty Development in the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement, at mwrightc@fsu.edu.
If you are an undergraduate student or recent graduate interested in applying for a Fulbright, contact Bonnie Garcia-Gloeckner, associate director of the Office of National Fellowships, at bjgarcia@fsu.edu. If you are a graduate student interested in applying for a Fulbright, contact Keith McCall, assistant director of the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards, at kmccall2@fsu.edu.
To learn more about Fulbright recipients at FSU, visit global.fsu.edu/fulbright-recipients.