Tag: fulbright alumni ambassador

Meet the Incredible Dr. Mtonga

With Dr. Mtonga

Had a wonderful time yesterday with Dr. Thomas Mtonga, PhD, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, who was guest-lecturing in NYC at New York University and Guttman Community College-CUNY on Inclusive Education From an African Perspective. I was able to co-present with him at Guttman today (Go, Grizzlies!). Dr. Mtonga’s home institution is The University Of Zambia (UNZA).

Guttman Community College-CUNY

There’s a wonderful profile of him at https://www.cehd.umn.edu/overcoming-barriers-through-resilience-and-purpose. Read it and you will understand why I was so awed and honored to share the room with him today as a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador telling about my own Fulbright experiences as a prelude to his talk.

Many thanks to Nick Fortier, Lecturer of Interdisciplinary Studies and Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Center at Guttman for making the arrangements (including the hot coffee and delicious brownies).

Fulbright Talk at Drexel

I had an absolutely wonderful time yesterday at Drexel University introducing Dr. Steven Butterman, Professor of Languages at the University of Miami and Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador, for his Fulbright Talk.

His discussion of his experiences in Brazil as a Fulbrighter researching his topic LGBT+ Brazilians Out / Inside Brazil: Cultural Representations of Human Rights Discourses, Identity Reconstruction, and Political Asylum was eye-opening, heart-wrenching and even sometimes funny. He’s a masterful storyteller and gave our faculty a lot of sound advice on how to start their own Fulbright journeys.

Thank You, Mario!

Wow. Thank you so much, Drexel University, for the terrific article. The photos bring back a flood of memories, and I hope my tips are helpful to current Fulbright applicants.

Two stills from my scenes in the Hoichoi streaming series Manbhanjan directed by Abhijit Chowdhury, starring Anirban Bhattacharya and Sohini Sarkar.
Mario the Dragon, Drexel University’s mascot.

Spreading the Fulbright Gospel

Had a wonderful time today pitching Fulbright Research and Teaching Scholarships to faculty at my alma mater New York University Tisch School of the Arts as a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador. I was happy to see such a huge turnout!