The Fulbright Commission is an academic scholarship and exchange program established by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946 in response to the end of WWII. The Commission’s goal is to improve intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries by developing compassionate, interconnected, morally courageous leaders who are working together to tackle the world’s toughest challenges.
Raegan became a Fulbright Scholar in 2015, when she was selected to receive the US-UK Fulbright Commission’s New School Postgraduate Award, which she used to obtain an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in New York City. In 2016, she was approached by UK Commissioner Jennifer Diamond to create and perform a spoken word piece for a special Fulbright event with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, President of the Council of Foreign Relations Dr. Richard Haas, and Executive Director for US-UK Fulbright Commission, Penny Egan CBE. The poem, “I’m Here,” was also screened at the US-UK Fulbright Commission Endcap Conference, “Brave New World,” in Edinburgh in 2017.
Raegan has served as a reading panelist for both the US-UK Postgraduate and Scholar Awards and the UK Summer Institutes since 2019. She has served as an interview panelist for the US-UK Postgraduate and Scholar Awards since 2022. In 2019, she was selected as Fulbright NY’s Alumna-in-Residence.
In 2021, Raegan was elected to the UK Alumni Council, housed within the US-UK Commission. There, she has helped lead creative programming for alumni during the pandemic, including virtual open mic nights and Burns Night celebrations.
Most recently, she spearheaded the “Festival of Fulbright” initiative, securing a $35,000 grant from the US Embassy in London to deliver in-person programming for alumni and widening participation initiatives at two UK universities in under-represented regions, Durham University in the northeast, and De Montfort University in the East Midlands.
Alongside UK Alumni Council Chair George Greenbury, Raegan represented the UK Alumni Council at the Fulbrighter and Community Engagement International Workshop in London in July of 2023. This conference brought together leading figures in Fulbright community engagement from around the world to share successes and challenges; learn from others’ best practice; and discuss how to collectively better support Fulbright alumni and grantees.
Currently, Raegan is also serving on the Fulbright National Conference Planning Committee for the 47th Fulbright Association Annual Conference, which will take place online and in-person in Washington DC in October 2024.