The Fulbright Canada Award for Outstanding Public Service

On behalf of the Fulbright Canada Board of Directors, Canada’s Finance Minister the Honourable William Morneau, and Parliamentary Secretary for Trade Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer at Microsoft Corporation, was recognized for his significant contribution to the public good and for his role in bringing nations, especially, Canada and the United States of America, closer together.

From left to right: Jack Curtin, Michael K. Hawes, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Brad Smith, The Honourable William Morneau, and Michael Parham.

The Fulbright Canada award for Outstanding Public Service, honours an individual who has made an outstanding contribution that helps to address the key challenges facing contemporary society and whose individual ideas and actions reflect the values and priorities of Senator J. William Fulbright. Senator Fulbright believed that international partnerships and programs that foster mutual understanding between and among people with diverse backgrounds and cultures take us a long way in ensuring a peaceful, just, and free world.

The preservation of our free society… will depend ultimately on whether we succeed or fail in directing the enormous power of human knowledge to the enrichment of our own lives and the shaping of a rational and civilized world order. It is the task of education, more than any other instrument of foreign policy to help close the dangerous gap between the economic and technological interdependence of the people of the world and their psychological, political and spiritual alienation.   - J. William Fulbright

During the award ceremony, Fulbright Canada Board Chair, Michael Parham, called attention to Brad Smith’s ongoing commitment to “breaking down barriers” and providing opportunities to low and middle-income students, through the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, to pursue education in high demand areas like public health, science, and engineering. In doing so, he has helped to create a culture of success and responsibility that thrives on diversity and collaboration.

After accepting the award, Brad Smith spoke about the incredibly connected relationship between Canada and the United States, and the importance of increasing collaboration on common challenges, such as cybersecurity and privacy, in both the public and private sectors. He noted that effective international collaboration on these issues must start with the ongoing creation of opportunities for higher education and research that reflect the diverse world we live in.

Fulbright Canada CEO, Dr. Michael K. Hawes, emphasized that “In the current environment, where change is clearly in the air, and where challenges may well outnumber solutions in the short-term, it is more essential than ever that we continue to be committed to the Fulbright program’s focus on identifying future leaders, providing them with extraordinary opportunities, and ensuring that peace and prosperity, growth with justice, and knowledge with purpose are found.”

Thank you to Fulbright Canada’s governmental, corporate, and university partners, for their participation in the award ceremony and for supporting Fulbright Canada’s mission.

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