Some weeks are very slow - nothing seems to progress. In others, there is immediate movement. The first three days of this week make it a week in the second category.

Message on Monday morning when I turn on the computer: a $200 donation from a prospective board member. Earlier this year, we announced in the newsletter that we were seeking candidates to serve on the board of directors. In the past 18 months, we added two new members and one resigned. Now we need some more new blood - ideally three this year and three next year. We started with over a dozen candidates, and so it will quite difficult to decide on the three - criteria include professional background, academic background, nationality, past experience on non-profit boards, gaps in our current capabilities, and willingness to serve.

Those who don't get on this year might serve in other capacities - such as on our newly created Advisory Board or on a study committee. Unfortunately we are still a small organization, and we can only manage a limited number of projects and volunteers - even volunteers need some management and oversight.

The other nice development has been progress with the Panama Conference. We seem to be all set with our two venues: El Panama and the Gamboa Resort. Our opening speakers are Sir Federico Humbert (Panama's Ambassador to the US) and Sir Harold Kroto (Nobel Prize in Chemistry). The Fulbright Commission in Mexico has recommended five possible speakers or participants. A leader in the Fulbright Alumni Group in Morocco faxed his proposed topic for a poster in the poster session. The Fulbright Alumni Group for Palestine seems to have identified funding to send 3-4 people. And we received a response from one of the alumni groups in Asia which hopes to host our March 2008 conference - they also plan on sending a 3-4 person delegation to Panama.

Institutional memberships are also growing. The newest is Sixth Star Marketing & Entertainment. They provide speakers to tourist & cruise ships around the world. Many Fulbrighters are qualified speakers, and some have work schedules that would allow them to take a 1-2 week cruise and give lectures to the guests on their specialty - be it natural science, social history, or any number of other topics. We are hoping that their involvement will help some of our indivual members, and at the same time help this institutional member.

The news from last week relates to an upcoming trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I will be at Salem College and Wake Forest University - we will be talking about the Fulbright program, the Fulbright Academy, and opportunities for individuals and institutions to be involved in both. For me, however, it will also be a personal journey. My grandmother's parents moved to WS in the 1890s - brought there to work for Mr. Reynolds of Reynolds Tobacco Company. My grandmother grew up there, graduated from Salem College in 1917. Two of her brothers and her parents are buried in Winston-Salem, so I will visit their graves.

So it has been a busy few days.