SDSU Honored as Fulbright HSI Leader for Third Consecutive Year

For a third consecutive year, the U.S. State Department today designated San Diego State University a Fulbright HSI Leader, recognizing its strong engagement with the international exchange program as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).

SDSU is among 46 colleges and universities on the 2023 list, announced at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) annual meeting in Chicago.

In a letter to SDSU President Adela de la Torre, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said SDSU “exemplifies a deep commitment to international exchange and to building lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

“As a diplomat, I love the Fulbright Program because it supports changemakers and fosters global cooperation,” Blinken wrote. “Fulbrighters make the world a better place in classrooms and countries worldwide.”

Operated by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Student program provides grants for international study/research projects and for work as English teaching assistants abroad. SDSU has earned the Fulbright HSI Leader designation in each of the three years since it was created in 2021.

“SDSU embraces our role as a binational university and knows education offers a powerful pathway to diplomacy and human connection,” said de la Torre. “We share the ideals of the Fulbright Program and are honored for the organization’s continued recognition of SDSU as an HSI leader.”

Since 2005-06, 102 SDSU students have been awarded student Fulbright grants with the two most recent recipients traveling to South Africa and Colombia for study and community service. 

A separate program sends faculty scholars across the world to teach and do research. In the past year:

• Biology professor Jeremy Long received a Fulbright grant to study the possible use of seaweed for coral reef restoration. He will travel to Jamaica for a total of four months next year, and for the teaching portion of his award, he plans to use dancehall music and choreography in science outreach initiatives with children, members of the fishing industry and the public.

• Jose Castillo, director of the Computational Science Research Center, was selected as a Fulbright Specialist to teach a short course in computational physics simulations and assist with curriculum development at Universidad Nacional de Rosario in Argentina.

“Our faculty and students benefit greatly from the bidirectional exchange of expertise and cultural customs offered by the Fulbright programs,” said SDSU Vice President for Research and Innovation Hala Madanat. “These international collaborations strengthen the innovative and community-engaged problem-solving that SDSU is known for.”

The Fulbright HSI Leader honor reflects the goals of one of SDSU's five strategic priorities that calls on leveraging the university's unique stature as a community-engaged, border-connected HSI to forge a path to becoming an R1 Doctoral University.

“As a transborder university, SDSU possesses a unique and profound appreciation for the significance of global education,” stated Provost William Tong. “With campuses and partnerships across the world, we are guided by our unwavering mission and a commitment to making a positive impact. Our dedicated faculty and students are driven to collaborate with our partner universities. Our commitment to adding value wherever SDSU has a footprint aligns perfectly with Fulbright's mission, and we take great pride in being continually recognized as an HSI Leader among doctoral institutions.”

SDSU was designated an HSI by the U.S. Department of Education in 2012. HSIs must have at least a 25% enrollment of Hispanic undergraduate students and meet variable percentages of Pell Grant-eligible students. In fall 2022, Hispanic/Latinx students accounted for more than 33% of the combined enrollment at SDSU’s San Diego and Imperial Valley campuses. 

“To be recognized as a Fulbright HSI Leader is a reaffirmation of the broad and comprehensive approaches SDSU leverages to serve our students in our commitment to becoming a thriving and intentional Hispanic-serving institution,” said Emilio Ulloa, associate chief diversity officer for HSI and regional affairs. “The work of our faculty staff and administrators who have contributed to this recognition must be acknowledged, and its importance cannot be understated,” Ullua added. “As an HSI, we are grateful for how the Fulbright programs align with our goals as an HSI of creating global leaders who have developed global perspectives, world languages and cultures, and ideas.”

Yoshiko Higurashi, SDSU professor emerita of Japanese, who serves as advisor of the Fulbright Student Program, said:

“Many of our students are bilingual and bicultural at SDSU. Most of the students who were monolingual and monocultural before coming to SDSU become bilingual and bicultural and enhance their global awareness, thanks to the university’s commitment to global education. Needless to say, we are very fortunate to have numerous brilliant Spanish-speaking students who will be the leaders of our society in this competitive global era.”