Fulbright Alumni in Education

Fulbrighters shape future generations through teaching, research, and educational leadership. Alumni have made an impact working in classrooms and communities, sharing knowledge with the next generation and connecting underrepresented communities with educational opportunity.

Featured Alumni

Jennifer Chavez-Miller (2014 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program to Finland), a global educator-explorer who was named the 2020 National Geographic Educator of the Year, is passionate about exploratory, student-centered teaching and incorporating global education into the classroom, a practice she explored during her Fulbright experience in Finland. After 21 years teaching elementary and middle school, she became a full-time faculty member in the Education Department of Central New Mexico Community College in 2020 to devote herself to educating the next generation of teachers.   

Ronald Crutcher (1972 Fulbright U.S. Student to Germany) is a national leader in higher education, a distinguished classical musician, and an accomplished administrator who is known for his active promotion of accessible, affordable, and inclusive higher education institutions, both for students and administrators. As the president of the University of Richmond in Virginia, he led the university in becoming a charter member of the American Talent Initiative, whose goal is to increase socioeconomic diversity in higher education. After his Fulbright to Germany, he taught and was an administrator at German and U.S. institutions, including serving as president of Wheaton University. He also performs internationally as a renowned cellist. 

Rana Dajani (2000 Fulbright Student from Jordan and 2012 Fulbright Visiting Scholar from Jordan) is both a renowned biochemist and an impactful literacy advocate in Jordan, as well as a proud mother of four, a social entrepreneur, and a human rights defender who is working to raise the health, educational, and social status of women and children in the region. She is a professor of biology and biotechnology at Hashemite University and simultaneously promotes literacy in 60 countries through her nonprofit, We Love Reading. She pursued her Ph.D. in molecular biology on a Fulbright at the University of Iowa, and more than a decade later she was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Yale University, crediting Fulbright with inspiring her and her family to share their own culture and learn from other cultures in order to take the best of each and incorporate it to make a better world for everyone.  

Joan T.A. Gabel (2018 Fulbright-Nehru International Educational Administrators Program to India) is the president of the University of Minnesota and former provost of the University of South Carolina, with a focus on the public higher education mission, ethical governance, and women’s leadership. She has received numerous research, service, and teaching awards, including the Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) Award to India, and has been recognized for leading the response to COVID-19 and to racial justice movements. She is advancing equity and impact at the University of Minnesota, where she led the development of the first system-wide strategic plan, emphasizing equity and diversity, and driving research and solutions to impact the world.  

Jaime Saavedra (1990 Fulbright Student from Peru) is the Global Director of Education at the World Bank and a fierce advocate for using education to fight poverty and inequality worldwide. As Peru’s Minister of Education from 2013-2016, he led the charge to overhaul the nation’s school system and significantly increased the national standard of education for all Peruvians, with a focus on rural and low-income communities. His global perspective, forged during his Fulbright at Boston University, has shaped his leadership of the largest financer of education in more than 80 developing countries and his consulting work with other international organizations.  

Jessica Stovall (2014 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program to New Zealand) is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford and a vocal advocate for racial equity in education. As a high school English teacher for more than a decade, she traveled to Wellington, New Zealand to partner with schools that are succeeding in closing the academic achievement gaps between white and Māori students. She developed racial equity training on the diverse Chicago-area campus where she taught English and developed cultural exchanges between students from the United States and New Zealand. She was featured in "America to Me," a docuseries directed by Steve James of Hoop Dreams, as a champion for providing equitable education for all students.  

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