Six new executive directors have assumed responsibilities for Fulbright commission offices in Europe during the past 12 months. They are: Colleen Dube (Ireland), Penny Egan (United Kingdom), Eric Jönsson (Sweden), Sonia Noronha Mykletun (Norway), Maria Grazia Quieti (Italy), and Otilia Macedo Reis (Portugal). To assist the new executive directors in acquainting themselves with their new responsibilities, Rosalind Swenson, Director of the Office of Academic Exchange Programs, United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Damaris Kirchhofer, Branch Chief of the European and Eurasian Programs Branch, convened a four-day orientation workshop in Spain.

Three long-serving commission executive directors were also on hand to share their experience and brief their new colleagues on various program details, logistics and best practices. They were María Jesús Pablos (Spain), Margaret Nicholson (Belgium), and Lonnie Johnson (Austria). Mary Kirk, vice president of the Institute for International Education (IIE) and Sabine O'Hara, vice president of IIE and executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) also offered information about the complexities of U.S. higher education from both a student and scholar perspective.

The exchange of information and the lively conversation between new and long-serving workshop participants was most informative and provided a helpful foundation for future collaboration with colleagues from both sides of the Atlantic.