The American Fulbrighters who spent 2005-2006 in Taiwan vary greatly in age and background. Several, including Anna Lily Charles, are still in their early twenties. John Antoine Labadie was born in 1950; Patricia Golemon is in her early sixties.
Some just have a bachelor's degree; others have years of post-doctoral research experience. People of Taiwanese birth or descent are a tiny minority in the United States, but account for a disproportionate number of recent Fulbrighters.
Patricia Chang, who was born in the United States to Taiwanese parents, spent her time in Taiwan researching the international and public health responses to the Sept. 21 earthquake of 1999, the most serious natural disaster to strike the country since the 1930s.
"The earthquake personally affected me, since my relatives lived through the disaster," said Chang, who in 2005 received a master's degree in international security and political economy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. "I envisioned my family members trapped in a building, or worse. Luckily, all my family members were safe, but many others were not so fortunate."
She pointed out that her research touched upon topics related to the psychological impact of the earthquake, Taiwanese disaster management, as well as disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention efforts--the sorts of issues that in the United States would be handled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"There are many positive aspects to conducting research in Taiwan," said Chang. "The Fulbright encourages cultural exchange and cross-cultural dialogue, and I think this happened during my time in Taiwan. I spoke with one Taiwanese emergency medicine doctor about FEMA and we began comparing it with Taiwanese disaster management agencies and systems."
"I think the people that I met here--Taiwanese scholars, emergency practitioners and government officials--really made my time here valuable and worthwhile," she said. "They were generous with both their time and information. One engineering professor even took me outside of his office to point out what can make a building more structurally sound."
Like Chang, Jennifer Liu and Hsu Hui-chin are of Taiwanese descent, and they are also recipients of Fulbright research grants. Liu, a medical anthropologist who applied through the University of California, San Francisco, visited Taiwan so she could investigate the social, ethical, and political aspects of stem cell research. She also looked into transnational bioethics, and how ethical thinking might evolve given the transnational nature of such research.
Hsu, an associate professor in the University of Georgia's Department of Child and Family Development, spent the academic year as a senior researcher at the School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University. There she conducted research on social interaction between pre-term infants and their mothers.
Hsu was quoted on UGA's Web site as saying, "It has been a wonderful experience for me to work with an interdisciplinary research team. I have done infancy research with healthy full-term infants in a laboratory setting for many years. My research in Taiwan is my first experience to team up with pediatricians and physical therapists to assess pre-term infants and newborn full-terms in the hospital. I have learned a lot from my Taiwanese colleagues."
For those pursuing an academic career, winning a Fulbright award may help secure a faculty appointment and additional research funds. For others, the benefits are less tangible.
"Having a Fulbright award certainly opens doors anywhere because it is a prestigious grant," said Jane Ingram Allen, an artist whose 2004-2005 Fulbright grant was sponsored by Taiwan's Council for Cultural Affairs. "Many artists and curators, however, do not know about the Fulbright award, as it is not so well known in the art world. Also, I find that most ordinary people in Taiwan do not know about the awards." Nonetheless, Allen thinks that winning a Fulbright is "great for an artist."
"It gives you the opportunity to live and work in another country with a totally different culture, and experience so many things that can influence your artwork and lead to new ideas, new techniques, new materials. This can contribute to your artwork changing and developing," she explained.
"As a Fulbright scholar and artist, you'll have exhibitions in your host country and in the USA, but it can also lead to exhibitions and opportunities in other countries. Since being in Taiwan, I've spoken at conferences and had exhibitions in Japan and Korea, given a lecture in Thailand, and acted as a consultant in Shanghai."
"I would say that having the Fulbright award opens more doors in the academic world than in the art world, but in Taiwan, the universities have great power," Allen pointed out.
Of course, not every applicant for a Fulbright award makes a detailed cost-benefit calculation. For some, the adventure of a year overseas is what appeals.
"I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do after graduation, but I wanted to be productive while living somewhere foreign," said Charles. "I've always loved working with children and traveling, so going overseas to teach English seemed like a good idea."
"I found satisfaction in working with wonderful children, engaged in local culture, developed a taste for some initially strange flavors, explored great natural wonders of the country... and discovered that I was able to adapt to a place that at first felt incredibly foreign."
"The low point of being in Taiwan was that sometimes I felt solitary, as it was difficult for me to make friends. My co-workers and neighbors were very kind to me, but we weren't able to communicate very effectively," she added.
Charles, now back in the United States and "eager to pursue a career in the areas of environmental protection and social ecology," took Chinese-language classes at a nearby university in her free time. Like other recent Fulbright grantees, she received cultural and practical orientation upon arriving in Taiwan.
Golemon described the Fulbright organization in Taiwan as "absolutely marvelous," adding that it "definitely helps to make the experience quite wonderful."
"Fulbrighters were invited to several events that were very special, including meeting many Taiwanese government officials, enjoying the local food, learning about the culture and the customs, and seeing some of the countryside. I can't say enough good things about the director and his staff."
Golemon advises Fulbright scholars heading to Taiwan to see as much of the island as they possibly can. "Take many weekend trips to the scenic places; it is really a beautiful place and you will get to know and understand the people better."
"Make some good friends there, which should not be difficult as the people are extremely helpful, friendly and caring," she said. Like quite a few visitors, Golemon found Taiwan's heavy traffic disconcerting, describing it as "strange and scary." And she warns future Fulbrighters to "watch out for the summer. It is brutal."
But Golemon remains grateful for the experience. "I really loved being there and miss several of the people very much. It is interesting and beautiful and the people are very open and kind."
The Fulbright program is very much a two-way street. In addition to the 100,000 Americans who have gone abroad since the scheme was created, more than 150,000 citizens of other countries have traveled to the United States to teach or conduct research.
According to the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, more than 1,000 Taiwanese have gone to the United States on Fulbright awards, including 45 in 2005-2006. Around 150 Taiwanese scholars and professionals apply for Fulbright grants every year, said Amy Pan, a program specialist at the FSE's office in Taipei.
ROC nationals selected for Fulbright scholar-in-residence posts in the United States receive a monthly stipend of between US$2,500 and US$2,900; round-trip international travel; insurance; a dependent allowance for up to two qualifying dependents; plus special allowances for excess baggage, settling in, books, services and professional travel within the United States. Since 1992, Taiwan and the United States have made equal financial contributions to Fulbright exchanges between the two countries.
The Fulbright program has, as a matter of policy, favored different fields of study at different times. The FSE Web site notes that, "In the early years it concentrated on exchanges in the areas of engineering, science, and economics. The focus gradually changed to social sciences and humanities." Culture and the arts have been emphasized in recent years.
Prominent Taiwanese who have been Fulbright recipients include leading economist and former Vice Premier Wu Rong-i; former Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission Chairman Hsu Cheng-kuang; and founder of the Cloud Gate Dance Theater Lin Hwai-min.
According to the FSE, the overall purpose of the Fulbright program in Taiwan is "to promote cooperation and understanding between the people of Taiwan and the U.S. through educational exchange."
If Golemon is typical of grant recipients, then the program is succeeding. "Living in another culture can be stressful but is well worth the effort," she said. "You learn so much about yourself as well as the people you are living among. I will return for visits whenever I can."
Copyright 2006 by Steven Crook.