Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship

Applications are now closed. 

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program brings accomplished professionals from designated countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Eurasia to the United States at a midpoint in their careers for a year of study and related professional experiences.  Fellows are selected based on their potential for national leadership and commitment to public service, in either the public or private sector. The program provides a basis for establishing long-lasting productive partnerships and relationships between citizens of the United States and their professional counterparts in other countries, fostering an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world.

Fellowships are granted competitively to professional candidates specifically in fields of:

Human and Institutional Capacity:
- Economic Development
- Finance & Banking
- Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration
- Technology Policy and Management
- Human Resource Management

Rights and Freedoms:
- Communications and Journalism
- International Religious Freedom
- Law and Human Rights
- Trafficking in Persons Policy & Prevention

Sustainable Lands:
- Agricultural and Rural Development
- Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change
- Urban and Regional Planning

Thriving Communities:
- Contagious and Infectious Diseases
- Public Health Policy and Management
- HIV&AIDS, Policy and Prevention
- Substance Abuse Education, Treatment and Prevention
- Educational Administration, Planning, and Policy
- Higher Education Administration

During the academic year of 2025/26, Humphrey Fellows participate in programs that combine graduate-level academic course work with professional development activities. The program is not designed to offer a degree, but rather to provide broad professional enrichment through a combination of activities tailored to each Fellow’s interests. Upon completion of the program, participants receive special certificates from the U.S. government and the host university.

Humphrey Fellows are placed in theme-based groups of approximately 10 persons at carefully selected U.S. universities.  In recent years, host campuses have included: American University, Arizona State University, Boston University, Cornell University, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, Syracuse University, Tulane University, University of California, Davis, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Each campus has a Humphrey Coordinator and advisors who provide academic and administrative support, helping each Fellow design and implement an individualized program of academic course work and professional development activities with local, state, national and international organizations in the United States. Throughout the year, Fellows participate in workshops and conferences that provide interaction with leaders from U.S. federal, state and local governments, multinational organizations and the private sector. These workshops also provide a forum for discussion of issues of professional interest to the Fellows.

• Outstanding achievements in public service activities and proven leadership capabilities in such activities constitute the main evaluation criterion.
• Preference will be given to candidates who work to improve the situation of under- served sectors and communities.
• The candidates’ interest in policy aspects of their fields of specialization and their management or policy making responsibilities are important evaluation criteria.
• English language proficiency is an important evaluation criterion.
• Possession of skills required to promote mutual understanding between the United States and Israel is an important evaluation criterion.

• Funding is provided for the Program Fellow for one academic year only, with additional support for a period of English language training, where appropriate.  Additional support for accompanying dependents is not available.
• Grantees must travel on a J-1 Exchange Visitor visa sponsored by the Fulbright program.
• It is a condition of the visa that upon expiration of their exchange visitor status, grantees must return to Israel and reside in the country for two years before being eligible to immigrate to the U.S., to return to that country as permanent residents or to enter the U.S. with a work permit. The purpose of the two-year home residency requirement is to ensure that exchange visitors return home and fulfill the exchange objectives of the Fulbright program.
• Holders of J-1 student visas who have departed from the United States after a stay of six or more months must remain abroad for at least twelve months before being allowed to re-enter the United States with a J-1 professor/research scholar visa.   There is no such limitation to re-entry to the United States as the holder of a J visa in another category (short-term scholar, specialist, international visitor), or as the holder of a student or tourist visa.
• Dependents of grantees will enter the US as holders of J-2 visas. Many conditions applying to the grantees as holders of J-1 visas, such as the two-year home residency requirement, also apply to the holders of J-2 visas.
• Program fellows who enter the U.S. as J-1 visa holders must receive a special waiver in order to change their visa status to J-2 while in the United States.  The Department of State does not support such change of status requests.
• Most host campuses require fellows to wait at least 30 days before dependents can join them.  Only under special circumstances will host campuses consider allowing fellows to bring dependents with them upon arrival to the host institution.
• Grantees must begin their programs in the United States no later than the fall semester, 2025. Awards cannot be deferred to the following academic year.
• Fellows will be asked to act as Fulbright Israel Programs Ambassadors: to share their experiences with others, to disseminate fellowship information among colleagues and potential candidates and to participate in information sessions for new candidates that may be held in their region. Alumni will also be invited to attend Fulbright Israel's activities and events and, from time to time, asked to assist in the reviewing process for incoming candidates. 

The highest ranked candidates will be invited for an interview in Israel. All interviews are held on the same day.  In order to be considered for selection as one of the Israeli candidates, applicants must be available to be interviewed in person on the date fixed by Fulbright Israel.

The Foundation reserves the exclusive right to determine, within the framework of applicable law and regulations, the qualitative standards for the evaluation of applications and is not under any obligation to give reasons for its decision.

The final selection of those to be awarded Humphrey Fellowships is made by review committees in the United States which consider the qualifications of candidates from all the participating countries.