Lincoln University Named Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leader for 6th Consecutive Year by the U.S. Department of State
September 9 — LINCOLN UNIVERSITY is proud to be named again this year as a Fulbright Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Institutional Leader for 2025. Each year, this initiative recognizes those HBCUs with exceptional engagement with the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship international academic exchange program. 
Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders demonstrate noteworthy support for Fulbright exchange participants and encourage administrators, faculty, and students at HBCUs to engage with Fulbright on campus. The Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders initiative highlights HBCU alumni and faculty excellence, as well as HBCUs as a destination for international students and scholars.
Named for the sixth time as a Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leader, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania has a strong legacy of producing world leaders who are globally engaged and committed to social justice. Over the past six years LU has hosted Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) and Visiting Scholars-In-Residence (SIRs) representing more than a dozen countries as an important part of the strategy that contributes to this legacy.
Dr. Nicole Files-Thompson is an Associate Professor of Communications and was awarded the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award in Jamaica in 2019 – 2020. She also currently serves as a Fulbright Program Advisor and Faculty Liaison. This year, and for the first time, Dr. Files-Thompson has designed and is teaching an undergraduate course that directly speaks to Lincoln’s Fulbright HBCU legacy and brings into dialogue the global perspectives of undergraduates and Fulbright grantees on campus. “Drawing on my Fulbright experience and acute understanding of the challenges that come with teaching in a new country, I designed the course Intercultural Communication and HBCU Pedagogy this year to support our FLTAs as they transition into the Lincoln culture. The goal is to maximize their experience by giving them a dedicated space to focus on their personal and professional growth.”
The three Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) working with Dr. Files-Thompson and teaching foreign languages on campus this year (2025-2026) include: Divinah Kariri who teaches Swahili and is from Kenya; Basma Mohamed who teaches Arabic and is from Egypt; and Milena Vargas who teaches Spanish and is from Argentina. Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant Coordinator, Dr. Nora Lynn Gardner, also serves as a Fulbright Program Advisor and Fulbright Scholar Liaison on campus. “Our Fulbright programs bring global perspectives, world languages and cultures, and new ideas into our students’ classrooms, our faculty’s research, and our campus community.” Gardner attests that the university’s annual designation as a Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leader is a continual reaffirmation of its “distinctive legacy of global engagement, social responsibility, and leadership development.”
Reflecting on this past year, in 2024-2025 Lincoln was honored to host Fulbright Visiting Scholar-In-Residence Dr. Kealeboga J. Maphunye, Professor of African Politics and Political Science at the University of South Africa. Invited and sponsored by Dr. Wayne Edge, during his grant period at Lincoln Dr. Maphunye taught classes in the Political Science Department, attended and presented at conferences across the nation, and gave keynote addresses at Lincoln’s Annual Convocation and at the Conference on History, Political Science, and Social Justice at Winston Salem-State. Dr. Maphunye also served as a panelist at the Black Freedom Conference held in April 2025 at Lincoln University.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided nearly 450,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals, of all backgrounds and in all fields, the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program.
Learn more about the Fulbright Program at https://fulbrightprogram.org, including how HBCUs engage with the Fulbright Program.
Follow the Fulbright Program’s social media accounts and websites for highlights on HBCUs and Fulbright:
