Fulbright alumna strives for an inclusive community for differently abled persons

On Friday, May 4, 2018, Fulbright alumna Tayyaba Azeem, founder of SpeakUp!, organized a coaching session for Differently Abled Persons (DAP) with the support of USEFP at its Karachi premises. The session was attended by DAPs from different educational backgrounds and interests and facilitated by a fully-trained sign language interpreter from ConnectHear.

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Celebrating 70 Years of Pakistan-U.S. friendship at the 14th Annual Fulbright and Humphrey Alumni Conference

Over 150 Fulbright and Humphrey alumni travelled to Karachi, to celebrate 70 years of friendship between Pakistan and United States, as part of the 14th Annual Fulbright and Humphrey Conference, which took place between March 2 and March 4, 2018.

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PhD Alumni Forum Encourages Conversation on Alumni Experiences and Challenges

In an effort to foster a healthy exchange of ideas, encourage meaningful discussion, and influence change, USEFP organized PhD Alumni Forums, for Fulbright alumni who completed their PhD degrees in the United States. The forums were held in Islamabad as well as Karachi and were also attended by representatives from the U.S. Embassy and USEFP.

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My Impressions of a Never-Ending Journey

The following is a heartfelt post by Fulbright alumna, Amna Yameen, describing her experiences as a Pakistani, Muslim student in the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship. She returned in 2016 with a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She can be reached here

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Fulbrighter Bikes in Indonesia for ‘Women on Wheels’

This edition’s “In Your Own Words,” is by Fulbright and East West Center alumna, Dr. Feriyal Amal Aslam. Her PhD project proposed a soft-power diplomacy approach using aesthetic and performative practices, and people-to-people diplomacy to heal relations between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Currently, she is on a one-year sabbatical to focus on her book project based on this research. She recently visited Banda Aceh as part of the “Women of Wheels,” initiative by the Kota Kita Foundation in Indonesia. Below is a brief account of her experience during her visit. 

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Fulbright Alumnus Trains Pakistani Students in Design Thinking

In developing societies like Pakistan, where innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit is slowly finding roots thanks to incubators like Plan 9i2iWeCreate, and spaces at top universities like LUMS and NUST, people are embracing a variety of problem solving techniques to help address local community problems. According to Fulbright alumnus, Ahsaan Rizvi, one way to identify opportunities for intervention, and to develop possible solutions, is to train young minds in design thinking, specifically, human centered design thinking – a creative approach to problem solving, which according to IDEO dot org, “starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs.”

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2018 Fulbright Master’s and PhD Scholarships Announced!

The wait is over – here’s your chance to compete for one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world: the Fulbright!Fulbright is the flagship scholarship program of the U.S. Department of State. The United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) officially announced the opening of the Fulbright Award 2018 round on March 6th of this year. The program invites Pakistani students to apply for the Fulbright Student (Master’s and PhD) and Fulbright-Higher Education Commission (HEC) PhD Program, which fully funds Master’s or PhD study at top universities in the United States. The Fulbright-HEC PhD scholarship is funded by the Government of Pakistan and managed by USEFP under Fulbright policies and regulations.

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*WE* Are Agents of Change!

Amina Rizwan has the ability to bend and mold metal at will. No, she is not telekinetic (though that would be amazing!) — rather, she has the very human ability of shaping and adorning certain metals. A Lahore-based jewelry designer, Amina works as an independent artist, contemporary jeweler, and is also a contributing writer for international art and jewelry magazines. Amina’s jewelry reflects her subcontinental heritage and incorporates gemstones from across Pakistan into her designs, for what she calls a “jewelized transformation”, albeit with a contemporary, global appeal.

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Spotlight Alumni: Madiha Nasrullah

My Amazon wish list Just. Got. BIGGER! But who’s to blame for my empty wallet? (Because let’s face it, it’s going to get empty once I start scrolling through Amazon’s Sephora page). And if you’re anything like me, for whom an online deal makes your heart pound and hands sweat in excitement, you’ll want to love to hate the person responsible for making all your online shopping dreams come true. You’ll have none other than Fulbrighter Madiha Nasrullah to blame. This young, Lahore based entrepreneur is about to launch Nazdeeq, an online shopping portal that intends to give its audience, easy, reliable and creative access to a wide variety of global brands. In other words, it’s shopping at your fingertips, in a country where products bought on one of the world’s largest online portals has yet to deliver to Pakistani doorsteps.

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