Ashleigh Brown-Grier, a 2011 graduate of Talladega College, recently served as a panelist for the 13th Annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Foreign Policy Conference.
During the Conference, Department leaders discussed U.S. foreign policy priorities with students from HBCUs while also sharing information about the Department’s educational programs and career options.
The Office of Public Liaison in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs coordinates the Department of State's annual HBCU Foreign Policy Conference, which brings together alumni of HBCUs to conduct outreach across
According to Brown-Grier, serving as a panelist enabled her to inspire students attending HBCUs to apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
“There is a significant gap amongst Black and HBCU students who participate in Fulbright Programs,” she said. “It is important that our institutions are shared at the international level, as we are often left out of the discussion.”
Brown-Grier has served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Malaysia in 2017 and previously studied Italian Opera in Pisa, Italy.
She is also the founder of Fulbright HBCU, a social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) that highlights HBCU Fulbright grantees. Among a host of other attainments, she is a graduate of Morgan State University (Master of Arts in Teaching), the University of Pennsylvania (M.S.Ed. Higher Education), and currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Howard University in the Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies Program.
“My time at Talladega College serves as my inspiration for my doctoral research, internationalization at HBCUs,” said Brown-Grier.
“Serving as Miss Talladega College 2010-2011 gave me the confidence to create a nonprofit organization, (iHBCUx) which focuses on increasing awareness about HBCUs and promoting government-funded international exchange opportunities,” she added.
She encourages current students to utilize the resources available internally and seek external opportunities to develop the skills necessary to reach their goals.
To learn more about iHBCUx or find resources for international exchange programs, visit https://ihbcux.org.
