The Foreign Service Journal, February 2005

54 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 5 F O C U S O N T H E P O W E L L L E G A C Y T HOUGHTS FROM THE F IELD he following are responses from the field to an AFSANET requesting Foreign Service members, both active-duty and retired, to contribute their thoughts and observations on Colin Powell’s tenure as Secretary of State. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor v Student Exchange Programs Boosted During their tenure, Secretaries of State probably set many records. There are two that belong to Colin Powell that are especially important to the Fulbright program, which the Institute has the honor of administering on behalf of the department. In his very first year, Secretary Powell mentioned the Fulbright and Humphrey programs more times in public than any of his predecessors did in their entire careers. If you “google” Powell and Fulbright, you get nearly 40,000 matches. For many other secretaries, you actually get none. And on Colin Powell’s watch, the Fulbright Program with Afghanistan and Iraq restarted after a hiatus of over two decades. The Iraqi students and scholars were also received at the White House and met the president. The last time that happened to any group of Fulbrighters was in 1963. After 9/11, and frequently since then, Secretary Powell urged American embassies to reach out to inter- national students and assure them that America’s acade- mic doors remained open to them. In the process, he helped us all make the case that international education- al exchange is as important to America today as it was when the Fulbright Program was created in 1946. Dr. Allan E. Goodman President and CEO Institute of International Education v Looking Out for Others Everyone reading the FSJ knows about our Secretary’s esteemed career in public service. He is also a private cit- izen of the highest order. After reading My American Journey , hot off the press- es in 1996, I bought another copy to send to my cousin, who at that time was an Army ROTC university student. Things were rough for her then, and I thought the book would cheer her up. Instead of mailing it directly to her, I sent it and a T AFSA MEMBERS WEIGH IN WITH TRIBUTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON C OLIN P OWELL ’ S TENURE AT THE S TATE D EPARTMENT . B Y S USAN M AITRA