Netiva in Benin, Africa 2003-2004 Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. - R. W. Emerson.

Being a Fulbright scholar means I am one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 140 countries for the 2003-2004 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program (or one of approximately 105 Americans who have been selected to teach or conduct research in 27 African countries). Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 57 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S. They are among more than 250,000 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers, and university faculty and professionals who have participated in one of the several Fulbright exchange programs.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields. Among thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corporation.

My CPSR Friends From Ghana.

List of Visitors to Benin National University.

My New Beninese Friends Bienvenu and Raphael