The US - Italy Fulbright Commission

Established in Italy in 1948 and financed jointly by the US Department of State and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US – Italy Fulbright Commission is a binational organization that administers the Fulbright program, promoting academic and cultural relations and exchanges between Italy and the United States through the awarding of scholarships, research grants and teaching fellowships to Italian and US citizens.

The Board of the US – Italy Fulbright Commission consists of twelve members, six American members appointed by the US Ambassador and six Italian members appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. At present the positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman are held alternately on an annual basis by representatives of the Italian and US governments. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of the United States of America are Honorary Presidents of the Commission.

The Commission's main office is located in Rome. Its peripheral offices are located in Naples and Palermo. From the 1950s until today, the Commission has periodically organized orientation courses, information sessions and seminars on Fulbright scholarships in the US, introducing the participants to the US academic system and providing them with information on institutions and study paths. The US – Italy Fulbright Commission also runs the practices related to the permanence of the American scholars in Italy and their integration into the Italian academic environment.

The first Italian Director of the Commission was Cipriana Artom Scelba. A collaborator of the United States Information Service, in the period immediately following the end of the Second World War and until the end of the 1980s, Scelba devoted herself to the management and organization of cultural exchanges between Italy and the United States. The scholars who participated in the Fulbright program under Scelba's direction included Umberto Eco, Giuliano Amato, Franco Ferrarotti, Giovanni Sartori, Carlo Rubbia, Tullio Regge, Franco Modigliani, James Buchanan, Edoardo Amaldi, Lionello Venturi, Luigi Dallapiccola, Gianfranco Pasquino, Giandomenico Picco, Marcello Pera, Gianni Riotta, Irene Bignardi, Laura Lilli, Richard Serra, Philip Pearlstein, Dale Chihuly, Lorin Maazel, Mark Strand, Irving Levine, Henry Millon (a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in 1960, a Resident in 1966, Director from 1974 to 1977, and a Trustee from 1977 to 1994), William Weaver, Leslie Fiedler, as well as the Americanists Agostino Lombardo and Biancamaria Tedeschini Lalli, who subsequently became Members of the Commission. 
 

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