International Student Services Director Receives Fulbright Award for Study in Japan

Linda Duckworth, director of International Student Services at UH Mānoa, is one of six individuals chosen nationwide for a Fulbright grant to participate in a special program for International Education Administrators in Japan. Duckworth will leave for Japan in mid-June to participate in a specially designed three-week group program that will introduce the participants to the higher education system and culture of Japan.

The binational Japan-United States Educational Commission (JUSEC) conducts the Fulbright program between the two countries under the authorization of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, Public Law 87-256 (The Fulbright-Hays Act) and the Agreement signed on February 15, 1979, between Japan and the United States, which initiated binational funding of the program. The basic objective of the Japan Fulbright program is to promote mutual understanding between the people of Japan and the United States. The IEA grant enables participants to learn about Japanese education and society so that upon their return to the United States, they will be able to contribute to the Japan-United States relationship through their personal and professional activities.

The Fulbright program involves the cooperation of many organizations: the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA); the Japanese Government represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture; the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), which administers the senior scholar program; the Institute of International Education (IIE), which administers the graduate student program; and the presidentially-appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB), which establishes worldwide policies for the Fulbright program and finally approves all grantees.

Duckworth is director of International Student Services (ISS) at UH Mānoa. ISS provides assistance to more than 1,400 international students who come from more than 70 countries to study at UH Mānoa. ISS assists individuals with the maintenance of their nonimmigrant visa status and provides guidance and advising to students so that they can utilize the educational opportunities at the University and in the community.