Visiting Scholar Program

Each year, approximately 800 foreign Fulbright Scholars are affiliated at more than 200 institutions in the United States. Most visiting Fulbrighters come from Europe, Canada and East Asia and the Pacific. Significant numbers also come from the Middle East and North Africa and the Western Hemisphere. Smaller numbers come from South and Central Asia and the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Approximately 88 percent of grants are for research activities, while 12 percent are for lecturing, combined lecturing/research, or seminar participation. Three-fifths of visiting scholar gnats are for periods of six months or more.

Approximately 70 percent of scholars from overseas receive full-maintenance awards, which provide travel expenses and a stipend. The remaining grantees receive travel-only or partial-maintenance awards, which are supplemented by host institutions in the United States, by the grantee's home government or private sources.

Special enrichment programs are offered to foreign scholars affiliated in or visiting six metropolitan areas: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Each year, more than half of the Fulbright Visiting Scholars are affiliated with institutions near these areas.

The Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence Program. The primary objective of the worldwide Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) Program is to bring scholars and professionals from abroad to U.S. campuses that do not normally have the opportunity to host visiting scholars. These institutions are usually interested in initiating international program and curricula, global studies, or area-specific academic programs. Institutions that serve student populations that are underrepresented in international exchange programs, including minority-serving institutions and community colleges, are of particular interest. The SIR Program allows institutions to submit proposals to host a visiting scholar for a full year or academic term. Specific scholars can be named, or institutions can request that CIES recruit a scholar from a specific country or in a particular discipline. The guidelines for applying to the Scholar-in-Residence Program are published each June and are available upon request from CIES and online. The application deadline for this program is in October. For more information, visit the CIES Web site.

The Fulbright European Scholar-in-Residence Program. A separate opportunity exists for universities to host experts on the European Union (EU). The European Union Scholar-in-Residence (EU SIR) Program brings European specialists in one term. The resident fellow gives guest lectures and conducts seminars as appropriate, consults with faculty and students on research, engages in collaborative study and provides outreach to neighboring institutions and the local community. The resident fellows are not expected to teach regular course offerings.

Given the distinct purpose of the EU SIR Program, the institutional requirements relevant to the general SIR program (for example, seeking institutions that do not often come in contact with Visiting Scholars) are not applicable to proposals submitted for the EU SIR Program. All institutions with appropriate programs and activities relating to EU affairs that can productively utilize a resident fellow are encouraged to submit proposals under this special program.

As with the SIR Program, application materials are available online. For both the SIR and EU SIR Programs, prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact CIES program staff for advice, referral and assistance in preparing proposals. The application deadline is in October.

The Fulbright Occasional Lecturer Program. All campuses are urged to take advantage of the wealth of expertise presented by visiting scholars who are already in the United States on Fulbright Scholar grants. Individual faculty, departments and institutions are encouraged to independently invite Fulbright Scholars located at other institutions to visit their campuses.

To further the opportunity for this contact, financial support is made available for Fulbright Visiting Scholars and Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence to guest lecture at other campuses for short periods of time. The Occasional Lecturer Program provides funds to scholars for round-trip transportation to accept these guest lecturing invitations. Support is provided on a first-come, first-served basis to the extent that annual funding permits.

Special attention is given to the needs of institutions with little opportunity for sponsoring international lectures, including institutions serving predominantly minority student populations.

Occasional lectures:

  1. offer department - or school-wide lectures to students and/or faculty;
  2. lecture to classes where the scholar can make a contribution to the discipline, meet faculty for an exchange of ideas and engage in informal discussions with students;
  3. enjoy home hospitality offered by the faculty or department host; and
  4. address community organizations that have a special interest in international relations.

The Fulbright Visiting Specialists Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World. The Fulbright Visiting Specialists Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World helps U.S. colleges and universities enrich student, faculty and community understanding of Islamic civilization and today's Muslim world.

The program provides opportunities for U.S. colleges and universities to apply to host a Visiting Specialist from predominately Muslim countries, or those with a large Muslim population, in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, as well as several countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. The intensive, three- to six-week program combines teaching, lecturing and public outreach.

Encouraged to apply are liberal arts institutions, minority-serving institutions and community colleges that have limited or no programs on Islamic civilization or the Muslim world and/or institutions with established area studies that seek expertise on specialized topics in Islamic civilization.

Priority academic fields in the social sciences and humanities include political science, international relations, history, Islamic studies, sociology, women's studies, economics, literature and the arts. The program does not support research projects or the teaching of English or foreign languages.

For more information and to obtain an application package, visit the web site.