U.S. Department of State, Citizen Diplomacy as Public Service: The Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship

Citizen Diplomacy as Public Service: The Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Fulbright Public Policy Fellows in the U.S. Department of State Treaty Room, Washington, D.C., August 14, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Tara D. Sonenshine serves as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

In eight countries around the world, 20 young Americans will soon be assuming new work spaces in cabinet-level ministries. They’ll barely have time to thumb tack photos of their loved ones on the walls before getting down to work with their new colleagues.

What is that work? The real and everyday challenges those governments face in Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Thailand, and Tunisia. And what brings these committed young men and women to these posts? They are the first members of a fellowship program — sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs — that seeks to build mutual understanding and strengthen the… more »