By Taya Zoormandan

On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced the Fulbright Top Producing Institutions for 2023-24, with California Institute of the Arts ranked as a top producer of student Fulbright recipients for master’s institutions.

The annual designation recognizes colleges and universities that produced the most Fulbright US students and Fulbright US scholars—the award for faculty, artists, and professionals—under the government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Anais Arias-Aragon (Music MFA 22), Shirley Ji Young Kim-Ryu (Critical Studies MFA 21), and C. Bain (Art MFA 22) are the three CalArtian Fulbrighters for the 2023-24 academic cycle.

With three current Fulbright US students, this places CalArts among the top 12 institutions in its Carnegie Classification (master’s). This year’s announcement also marks the fourth time CalArts has been recognized as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for US students since 2009-10.

In a letter to CalArts President Ravi Rajan, United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken congratulated the Institute on its distinction: “California Institute of the Arts’s designation as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution clearly demonstrates your dedication to promoting global engagement and mutual understanding among the peoples and nations of the world.”

Designed for graduating college seniors, graduate students, artists, and young professionals, the Fulbright Program offers fellowships to conduct research, study, or teach English in another country. Fulbrighters are afforded the opportunity to live, work, and learn from people of their host countries during their grant, facilitating open cultural exchange, and opportunities to consider new perspectives

Find the full list of 2023-24 Top Producing Institutions on the Fulbright website.

Established by Congress in 1964 to break down barriers between people of the US and those of other countries, the Fulbright Program is billed as the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. More than 2,200 US students and 900 US college and university faculty members and administrators receive Fulbright awards annually, while roughly 4,000 Fulbright international students and visiting scholars come to the US each year.

For more information about the Fulbright application and deadlines, visit the Fulbright page on CalArts’ website.

Taya Zoormandan is a digital content and social media producer, Taya enjoys lifting up the stories and accomplishments of CalArts’ students, alums, and faculty. She fancies herself a visual artist but is really more of an overzealous collector of art supplies.