NATIONAL COUNCIL ON U.S.-ARAB RELATIONS LAUNCHES FINDLEY FELLOWS PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS IN HONOR OF RETIRED ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN PAUL FINDLEY
Program to Honor Most Outstanding Students from the National Council’s University Student Summer Internship Program
Washington, DC: The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, founded in 1983, is pleased to announce the launch of a new fellowship program that will honor outstanding participants in the National Council’s Washington, DC Summer Internship Program. In announcing the award, Council Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony said, “The new Paul Findley Fellowship, named in honor of former Congressman Paul Findley, will annually recognize students who excel in the academic component of the Council’s University Student Summer Internship Program.” The National Council’s Washington, DC Summer Internship Program annually selects 25 university undergraduate and graduate students to participate in a ten-week professional, academic, and career opportunity internship in Washington, DC. Designed to provide the interns a rich and varied training and educational experience, the program features an energizing and demanding mix of intellectual challenge, career exploration, and cultural encounters.
In addition to their daily nine-to-five duties within cooperating sister organizations focusing on various aspects of the Arab and Islamic worlds, the interns participate in a twice-weekly academic seminar. To a far greater extent than is possible in university course work or through reliance upon the mainstream Western media, this component of the program does three things: (1) it increases the interns’ knowledge and understanding of the leading powers among the 22 members of the League of Arab States, the world’s oldest regional organization dedicated to the peaceful resolution of disputes; (2) it underscores the cultural, economic, and political diversity of the Arab world; and (3) it explores the intricacies and dynamics of the overall Arab-U.S. relationship. The geographic focus of the seminar is primarily on Arabia and the Gulf.
Students who excel in the seminar will be recognized with an honor named after Paul Findley, who represented the 20th District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives for 22 years. During his long Congressional service, Congressman Findley was a Delegate at North Atlantic Assembly conferences from 1965 through 1981 and was the principal author of the Famine Prevention Program in the 1975 Foreign Assistance Act. Congressman Findley is the author of They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby, first published in 1985 and most recently updated in 2003, as well as Silent No More: Confronting America’s False Images of Islam (2001); Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts About the U.S.-Israeli Relationship (1995); A. Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress (1999); The Federal Farm Fable (1968); and Speaking Out: A Congressman’s Lifelong Fight Against Bigotry, Famine and War (2011).
Congressman Findley is a founding Member of the Advisory Board of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, Chairman of the Council for the National Interest, and Co-Chairman of the American Educational Trust. On October 22, 2013, he was presented the National Council’s first-ever Distinguished Public Service and Lifetime Achievement Award. In attendance were 1,250 members of the international diplomatic and press corps, American and Arab government officials, representatives of numerous Fortune 100 corporations, academic leaders, and university students at the Council’s 22nd Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. The conference and the award-presentation ceremony took place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in the center of the nation’s capital.
In announcing the National Council’s newest fellowship, Dr. Anthony compared Congressman Findley to the late Senator J. William Fulbright, former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-author of the landmark legislation that established the Fulbright Fellowship Program, and founding Chairman of the National Council’s Advisory Board. In so doing, Dr. Anthony referenced Congressman Findley’s unswerving devotion to moral principles and the need to implement international law and numerous U.N. Security Council Resolutions as they pertain to the national and human rights of the Palestinians living under foreign occupation. Dr. Anthony said, “Not since he left the national legislature in 1983 has there been a Member of Congress of Paul Findley’s stature. He was a giant. In establishing the Paul Findley Fellowship, the National Council seeks to plant the seeds for future giants in the mold of Congressman Findley.”
The Council is currently seeking contributions to sustain its new Paul Findley Fellowship to further enrich the educational, training, and leadership development potential of the emerging generation of future Arab-U.S. relations specialists. The Council has been granted public charity status in accordance with Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. The Council has been repeatedly recognized for its outstanding fiscal management, its performance of best business practices, and its record of transparency by Charity Navigator, the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, Independent Charities of America, and The Federal Times.
About the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations: Founded in 1983, the National Council is an American non-profit, non-governmental, educational organization dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab world. Information about the Council’s program, projects, events, and activities can be found at ncusar.org.