Walker Selected to Serve as Fulbright Specialist

Eileen Walker, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), has been selected for service as a Fulbright Specialist by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, on behalf of the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.

The Fulbright Specialists Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It promotes linkages between United States academics and professionals and their counterparts at universities around the world. The program is designed to support qualified U.S. faculty and professionals, in select disciplines, to engage in collaborative projects at higher education institutions in over 100 countries. Project activities focus on the strengthening and development needs of higher education institutions. The program sends U.S. faculty and professionals abroad to serve as expert consultants on curriculum, faculty development and institutional planning at overseas academic institutions.

“The Fulbright mission is to provide assistance to universities, and I look forward to sharing knowledge and experience not only from my own background, but also those of our university research park association,” Walker said.

As a representative of the Fulbright program, Walker will travel to Colombia, and will work with the faculty and administration of the Universidad de Antonio Narino in Bogota on the planning for their new university research park. The park project is composed of a center for technology transfer, a high technology research complex, a knowledge and business center, a university hospital, a cultural center, and a new university campus.

About AURP: The Association of University Research Parks is a professional association of university related research and science parks. AURP’s mission is to foster innovation, commercialization and economic growth through university, industry and government partnerships. For more information, visit AURP’s Web site at www.aurp.net or contact Chelsea Simpson at [email protected].