Students and scholars from Iraq and Afghanistan shared their cultural experiences with an international crowd Wednesday night on the Tempe campus in a reception organized by the Fulbright Program.
The scholars talked about their transition into American education and society brought about by the Fulbright Program, which is an international exchange program for students and professionals.
Javid Qaem, a speaker at the event and an ASU public administration Fulbright student from Afghanistan, said he was not initially impressed with Arizona.
“The image I had of the United States was more like New York and Los Angeles,” Qaem said.
After he attended class at ASU, he said his opinion changed.
“I was walking back from my first class and I was so happy in my heart,” Qaem said.
About 140 international students and scholars received Fulbright scholarships this year from the U.S. Department of State to study at Arizona universities, said Karen de Bartolome, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of the Institute of International Education.
The institute is the agency that manages the scholarship program.
At Tuesday’s reception, ASU welcomed about 120 Fulbright students, scholars and guests from 43 countries who are studying in Arizona.
Jameela Al-Attar, a Fulbright Scholar from UA and the head of the English department at her university in Iraq, also spoke at the reception. She said all the representatives from Iraq were pleased by how they had been welcomed to this country.
“What we enjoyed most was the acceptance of others in a multicultural society,” Al-Attar said.
Four of the five scholars from Iraq who worked in the literature and linguistics departments of UA attended the event and said they would return home as “ambassadors” for the United States.
Amthal Abbas, Rauf Mahmood and Anis Haddad, the other scholars from Iraq, also said they felt welcomed at UA.
“They don’t use the term ‘foreigner’ here,” said Mahmood, a Fulbright Scholar and dean of the College of Languages at the University of Human Development in Iraq. “They use the term ‘international student.’”
Urban planning Fulbright student Dzung Do Nguyen, from Vietnam, came to ASU to study because Ho Chi Minh City has been severely affected by flooding.
Nguyen was a shareholder in a consulting firm in Vietnam and plans to return home over Christmas to work on projects, he said.
“I will try to bring global knowledge and apply it to a local context,” Nguyen said.
James Brailer, the director of the Center for Global Education Services, coordinated the event. He said the University has been expanding its outreach to international students through a variety of programs.
About 3,500 international students enrolled in ASU this year, he said, which is almost 300 more than last year.
Expanding international enrollment helps provide an international perspective at American universities, said Kathleen Fairfax, vice provost for Global Education Services, in an e-mail.
The University has a “Three-Plus-Two” program to help international students complete three years of their bachelor’s degree programs in their home country and then finish both their bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in two years at ASU, Brailer said.
He said these programs followed in the same spirit as the Fulbright Scholarship program.
“It may be the grandfather of all international exchange programs,” Brailer said.
Reach the reporter at mary.shinn@asu.edu
