Dr. Norma González is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the field of international education and academic exchanges, strategic planning, leadership, partnership development, program design and administration. She has a large number of key connections with universities and schools, as well as contact with officials and professionals who occupy high-ranking positions in Argentina and in the United States.
Dr. Gonzalez received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Rio Cuarto and taught English and U.S. History at this university for several years. In 1987, she won a Fulbright grant to conduct graduate studies in the United States. She received her Master's and her Ph.D. degrees in American Diplomatic History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she specialized in U.S. Latin American relations in the 20th Century. On her return to Argentina, Dr. Gonzalez became a professor of U.S. History at the International Relations Department of Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, teaching and participating in research related to U.S. -Argentina relations during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations. In 1994, she was appointed Director of the Fulbright Program in Argentina, and she held this position for 30 years.
As Executive Director of the Argentine Fulbright Commission, Dr. Gonzalez significantly expanded Argentine government and private support for the program. She negotiated a series of cost-shared agreements with Argentine institutions to jointly support graduate studies and research for Argentine students and professors in universities in the United States, doubling the number of grantees and tripling the annual budget. Over 3000 Fulbright grants were awarded during her tenure. Dr. Gonzalez developed special programs to increase the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, candidates from the provinces, and school principals. She has also demonstrated special skills to hire staff, train them, develop and manage team-work.
On several occasions, she organized trips, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, for groups of teachers from the United States, who spent a month visiting different regions of Argentina to learn about its history, culture, and educational system. She also organized cultural enhancement activities and trips for U.S. grantees who spent a year in Argentina.