The Visiting Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program for the Los Angeles Metropolitan area is one of six such programs around the country funded by the United States Department of State. The purpose is to extend the visiting scholars' experience into the community and fulfill the goal of Senator William Fulbright who initiated legislation just after World War II to fund an international academic and cultural exchange program.

Fulbright believed that "mankind's capacity for decent behavior seems to vary directly with our perception of others as individual humans with human motives and feelings, whereas our capacity for barbarism seems related to our perception of an adversary in abstract terms. International educational exchange is the most significant current project designed to continue the process of humanizing mankind to the point that we can learn to live in peace."

The UCLA Fulbright Program office receives the names of about a hundred professors, graduate students and high school teachers who come to universities and schools throughout southern California on Fulbright grants for periods of a few months to a year. These are sent to us from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and the Institute for International Education in Washington where the Fulbright Program is administered. We organize cultural enrichment programs that introduce the Fulbrighters to the southern California community and institutions.

Our advisory board provides many programs in-kind through their associations with the Rand Corporation, the Getty, the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles County Art Museum and other institutions. We also organize Fulbright lectures and panel discussions where we invite Fulbright alumni and members of the community at large to attend and participate. Through these events and other, more informal, gatherings, we help foster many international friendships and professional collaborations.

Our office also provides information and application forms for Americans wishing to apply for a Fulbright grant.