President Barack Obama Appoints Pitzer College President Laura Skandera Trombley to Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board

CLAREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pitzer College President Laura Skandera Trombley has been appointed by US President Barack Obama to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Trombley will be sworn-in during the Board’s first quarterly meeting on February 11, 2013 at 10:45 a.m. in Washington, DC by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs J. Adam Ereli. Trombley becomes the only current board member representing the western United States.

“I am thrilled to welcome Laura Skandera Trombley to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Not only does President Trombley bring an important voice from California to the Board, she also brings Pitzer's extraordinary success as a national leader in the number of Fulbright scholarships awarded year after year”

“I am thrilled to welcome Laura Skandera Trombley to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Not only does President Trombley bring an important voice from California to the Board, she also brings Pitzer's extraordinary success as a national leader in the number of Fulbright scholarships awarded year after year,” said Tom Healy, chairman of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. “Dr. Trombley's intelligence, warmth and dedication to international education will be a vital addition to the Fulbright Board. All of us look forward to working closely with her.”

President Obama announced Trombley’s appointment and other key Administration posts in December.

“I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” President Obama said.

Laura Skandera Trombley has served as the president of Pitzer College since 2002. She is a professor of American literature and a distinguished Mark Twain scholar. She has authored five books, most recently Mark Twain's Other Woman (Knopf, 2010). Previously, she served as dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Coe College, and as assistant provost at SUNY Potsdam where she also received early tenure. She was a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in American studies at the Universitaet Eichstaett in Germany from 1985 to 1988. Trombley received a BA and an MA summa cum laude from Pepperdine University and a PhD from the University of Southern California where she was named the Lester and Irene Finkelstein Fellow for Outstanding Humanities Student. Trombley is currently a member of the Council of Presidents of the Association of Governing Boards.

The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board was established by the US Congress to supervise and promote the Fulbright Program as well as establish worldwide policies. Serving three-year terms, the board members, who come from academic, business, cultural and public life, also select students, scholars, teachers and others to participate in the educational exchanges. Appointed by the President of the United States, the 12-member board meets quarterly.

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the US government's flagship international 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 150 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Pitzer College as the top producer of Fulbright winners among all US liberal arts colleges in the “bachelor's institution” category. Pitzer has been the national leader in Fulbright Fellowships per thousand students for eight years. Nearly 10 percent of Pitzer’s 2012 graduating class was awarded Fulbright Fellowships.

About Pitzer College

Pitzer College is a nationally top-ranked undergraduate liberal arts and sciences institution. A member of The Claremont Colleges, Pitzer offers a distinctive approach to a liberal arts education by linking intellectual inquiry with interdisciplinary studies, cultural immersion, social responsibility and community involvement. For more information, please visit www.pitzer.edu.