Fulbright Visiting Scholars to Explore Social Entrepreneurship in Vermont: “Doing Well by Doing Good”
From April 10-13, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in coordination with the Vermont Council on World Affairs, and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, will host a Fulbright Enrichment Seminar in Burlington, VT, for approximately 65 Fulbright Visiting Scholars from more than 35 countries.
Vermont has long been recognized as a leader in socially-responsible businesses that embrace a triple bottom line (“people, planet, profit”), and include social and environmental performance in addition to the financial. Seminar participants will explore the concept of “Social Entrepreneurship: Doing Well by Doing Good,” and how a company’s social impact can and should be measured. Fulbright Visiting Scholars will also donate their time and skills to assist a variety of local organizations through community service projects.
The four-day seminar will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions, dinners with local Burlington-area families, and visits to key sites in Vermont. Visits will include: the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Good News Garage, the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (Vermontivate!), the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, New Farms for New Americans in Vermont, Champlain College’s Emergent Media Center, Ben & Jerry’s, and the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship.
Each year, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors a series of enrichment seminars for Fulbright Visiting Scholars on topics of global importance. Through community outreach activities and discussions, Fulbright Visiting Scholars learn how the selected topic impacts communities in the U.S. and explore its impact on their own home countries. These enrichment seminars, an integral part of the Fulbright experience, benefit Fulbright Visiting Scholars and support the overall mission of the Fulbright Program—to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 318,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.