Fulbright Opportunities for Faculty and Staff

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Syracuse University faculty, staff, administrators, and qualified professionals are eligible for a range of Fulbright awards to teach, conduct research, or carry out professional projects abroad.

Campus Contact: Elizabeth Lance, Director of Research Development for Social Sciences, is Syracuse University's Fulbright Scholar Liaison. Contact her at ealance@syr.edu to discuss award selection, timing, and application review.

Students and alumni apply through the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising.

For humanities fellowships more broadly, see the Humanities Research Development page.

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers more than 400 teaching, research, and combination awards in over 135 countries each year. Awards are open to faculty and administrators as well as to professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, and independent scholars. Browse the Catalog of Awards.

Deadlines

The U.S. Scholar competition runs on an annual cycle. Applications typically open in February and close in mid-September for awards beginning the following academic year. The 2027-28 competition closed September 15, 2026. Check fulbrightscholars.org/us-scholar-awards for the current cycle. Letters of recommendation are due on the application deadline, and host-institution invitation letters are accepted for roughly ten days afterward.

Application Requirements

• Project Statement
• CV or resume
• Two letters of recommendation
• Short essays
• Reference list (research and teaching/research activities)
• Syllabi (teaching and teaching/research activities)

Page limits vary by activity type and award. Some awards also require a host-institution invitation letter or documented language proficiency. Applicants in the creative and performing arts must submit a digital portfolio. Confirm all requirements in the current award description.

Eligibility

• U.S. citizenship. Permanent residents are not eligible.
• Applicants who have resided abroad for five or more consecutive years in the six-year period preceding the deadline are ineligible. Nine months or more in a calendar year counts as a full year.
• Ph.D. or equivalent terminal or professional degree, as specified by the award.
• Foreign language proficiency as specified in the award description. English is sufficient for teaching in most world areas.
• Limitations apply to previous Fulbright Scholar grantees.
• Research applicants are expected to have substantial scholarly, professional, or artistic accomplishments. Teaching applicants are expected to have relevant teaching experience.
• Applicants may apply for only one award per competition.
• Retired and emeriti faculty are eligible.

Other Fulbright Opportunities

• Fulbright Specialist Program supports two- to six-week project-based collaborations abroad. Applicants join the Fulbright Specialist Roster for a three-year tenure and are then matched to host-institution projects. Applications are accepted year-round and reviewed roughly every eight weeks.
• Flex option allows multiple short stays in the host country over one to two years instead of a single continuous residency. Flex is an option on many awards rather than a separate award, and segment rules are set in each award description.
• Postdoctoral Awards are open to applicants within five years of the doctorate.
• Distinguished Scholar Awards are the program's most senior appointments, for scholars with significant publication and teaching records.
• Global Scholar Award supports projects in two to three countries spanning at least two different world regions. Projects confined to a single world region are not eligible.
• International Education Administrators Awards are fully funded two-week seminars introducing U.S. higher education administrators to another country's higher education system. Participating countries vary by cycle.
• Fulbright Arctic supports collaborative research on Arctic policy questions among scholars from Arctic Council member states.
• U.S.-Chile Antarctic Exchange and the Fulbright-National Archives Fellowship are additional specialized awards.
• Hosting international scholars. Syracuse University can host visiting scholars through the Scholar-in-Residence Program and the Outreach Lecturing Fund.

Resources

• Connect with Fulbright for program updates, webinar schedules, and application resources.
• Webinars and office hours with IIE program staff.
• Alumni Ambassadors, recent alumni serving two-year terms as program representatives.
• Fulbright Scholar Directory, Syracuse University record, the official IIE list of Syracuse University grantees.

Syracuse University Fulbright Scholars

Last updated September 2026. Source: Fulbright Scholar Directory and University announcements.