English Language Institute selected to host Humphrey Fellows
Virginia Tech's English Language Institute has been chosen to host Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows from around the world for a Long-Term Intensive English Training Program beginning in 2008.
Virginia Tech will retain the eligibility to host program fellows for five years. The institute’s director, Don Back, submitted the university’s successful application.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1978 to honor the public service career of its namesake. It is a Fulbright exchange activity, with primary funding provided by the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Institute of International Education helps administer the program.
Humphrey fellows are mid-career professionals from either developing countries or those in political transition. Fellows have demonstrated leadership skills and a record of public service. They have had little or no prior travel experience in the United States.
Chosen through a competitive process, fellows enter this intensive, non-degree program in an effort to enhance their professional, communication, and leadership skills. Participants on both sides of the equation work together in an effort to increase knowledge and understanding, to foster cooperation, and to begin building enduring cross-cultural ties.
In keeping with Humphrey program requirements, the English Language Institute developed a proposal designed to afford Long-Term English Training Program participants access to an exceptional English-as-a-second language program, occasions for perfecting English language competencies both in and beyond the classroom, opportunities for enhancing professional networks and skills, and socio-cultural exposure and interaction. The fellows program will feature extensive, meaningful exposure to both the Virginia Tech academic and Blacksburg communities.
Poised to take wing this spring, this international outreach endeavor is one more step toward more comprehensive multicultural diversity on campus.
The English Language Institute is part of Virginia Tech’s Office of Outreach Program Development under Outreach and International Affairs. Read more about Virginia Tech’s English Language Institute.
