VP Bermet Tursunkulova receives FLEX Alumni Award

October 6, 2015

Vice President for Academic Affairs of AUCA Bermet Tursunkulova received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the nonprofit organization American Councils as one of the first FLEX Program alumni.

The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program is a merit-based scholarship program funded by the U.S. Department of State for secondary school students, accepting applicants from ten republics of the former Soviet Union (Eurasia). The program offers scholarships for students to travel to the United States and attend high school for a full academic year while living with a host family.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the American Councils for International Education, known in Kyrgyzstan for its support of the FLEX Program. On the occasion, the FLEX program has decided, for the first time, to formally acknowledge its most successful alumni.

In 1993, Bermet Tursunkulova was among the first 15 high school students selected for the U.S. program.

“It is a big honor for me to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from the American Councils. And it makes it an even greater honor that another award winner was Georgian FLEX alumna Ketevan Bochorishvili, now the Georgian Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development,” said Bermet Tursunkulova.

Dr. Tursunkulova flew to New York for a day to receive the award from U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, the initiator of the FLEX Program in the early 90s. Bill Bradley envisioned the program as a medium to build future U.S. relations with countries from the former Soviet Union--relationships based on personal friendships and mutual understanding.

“From Kyrgyzstan, besides me, there was Deputy Foreign Minister Emil Kaikiev and Kyrgyz Ambassador to the U.S. Kadyr Toktogulov. My brother, Kanat Tursunkulov, who was in New York attending the UN GA meeting, was also there with me,” remarked Bermet Tursunkulova.

The award ceremony was held in the Russian Tea Room, a historic New York venue founded in the 1920s by members of the Russian Imperial Ballet. The restaurant has symbolic importance for the American Councils because of the emphasis the organization puts on Russian language and cultural studies in the U.S.

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