Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship brings together U.S. and European fellows

Each year, the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship (BFTF) program brings together fellows from Europe and the United States to examine what citizens need to know about each other to communicate more effectively and collectively face the many challenges of the 21^st century.

And a recent $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will allow the popular program to continue for three more years.

Since 2013, Purdue University College of Education and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction have hosted BFTF, a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program began in 2006 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of birth of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was an American statesman and diplomat whose career, interests, and studies took him across the Atlantic Ocean, bringing about better understanding between Americans and Europeans.

In July 2022, ten U.S. fellows will join 45 fellows from Europe to attend classes in International Relations and Diplomacy, Media and Journalism, Global Problems, Democracy, and Civic Education.

The fellows will also travel to Indianapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. to learn about American history, to explore how state and federal governments function, to understand how young people interact with media both as consumers and producers of information, and to appreciate how the freedom of expression provides rights and imposes responsibilities on citizens.

Registration is now open for the four-week program. Fellows will stay with local families for ten days to learn more about everyday life of the American people.

Learn more about the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship: https://exchanges.state.gov/us/program/benjamin-franklin-summer-institutes

Source: Dr. Anatoli Rapoport, rapoport@purdue.edu

Writer: Katie Cockerill, kcockeri@purdue.edu