Betty Castor, Chair and Dr. Emma Sepúlveda, board member at J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board will assist to the 60^th anniversary of the Chilean branch of the Commission in Santiago. They will arrive in the next few weeks.

Betty Castor was appointed by President Barack Obama in September 2011 to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which oversees the worldwide Fulbright Program.  She was reappointed in 2014.  She previously served as Vice Chair and was elected Chair for 2015.

Castor served as President of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida from 1994 until 1999. Previously, she was the Florida Commissioner of Education and the first woman elected to the Florida Cabinet.  She served three terms in the Florida Senate. Castor also served as President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and most recently at the Executive Director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions at USF.  She is a member of the Tampa Bay Committee on Foreign Relations and the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.  In 2010, Castor received the “Distinguished Woman in International Commerce” Award from the World Trade Center of Tampa Bay.

Castor began her educational career as a secondary school teacher in Uganda and continues her support of the Teachers for East Africa Alumni Foundation.  She received a bachelor’s degree from Rowan University and a master’s degree from the University of Miami. About the Fulbright Commission she stated: “Senator Fulbright observed that educational exchange is not merely a «nice but marginal» activity, but rather, «from the standpoint of future world peace and order … probably the most important and potentially rewarding of our foreign-policy activities.» Indeed, today the strength of the Fulbright Program remains its commitment to immersion through which participants form lasting international connections, gain a deep understanding of other countries and cultures, and work collaboratively to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”

Dr. Emma Sepúlveda was also appointed by President Barack Obama in December 2014 to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Dr. Emma Sepulveda is a Foundation Professor and the Director of the Latino Research Center at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she has taught since 1987.  She is an award-winning writer and a columnist, author, and co-author of 27 books. She has read her work and given lectures in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

In 1993, Sepúlveda was awarded the Thornton Peace Prize for her work with the Chilean women’s movement and for defending human rights.  In 1995, she founded Latinos for Political Education, advocating for civic engagement by members of the Latino community.  In 2009 Sepulveda was appointed to the National Commission for the Creation of the American Latino Museum. 

Her latest book, Setenta Dias de Noche (Seventy Days of Night), tells the story of the tragic accident that trapped 33 Chilean miners and their historic rescue. The book was published in Chile and subsequently in Spain and won the Latino Book Award in New York City in 2012.Sepulveda was born in Argentina and raised in Chile, where she attended the University of Chile in Santiago before moving to the United States in 1974.  She received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a PhD from the University of California, Davis.

During their stay, Betty Castor and Dr. Emma Sepúlveda will attend the 60^th anniversary celebration of the Fulbright Commission in Chile, the biggest in the region, and will hold meetings and interviews with local authorities and scholars.