“Immigrants: The Pride of America” Recognizes Americans by Choice
Forty-five Americans, who were born outside of the country and have earned their U.S. citizenship, are celebrated today as “Americans by Choice” in a full-page public service advertisement in the Fourth of July edition of the New York Times.
See the New York Times ad and full list of 2012 honorees below.
Each year on Independence Day, Carnegie Corporation of New York salutes the legacy of its immigrant founder Andrew Carnegie, by celebrating an ideal that he held dear: citizenship.
The Americans celebrated today emigrated to the United States from six continents and range in occupation from a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist (Philippines), university president (Afghanistan) and dancer (Ivory Coast) to NASA astronaut (Australia), prize-winning chemist (Estonia) and best-selling author (Ireland). And they also include an Assistant Treasury Secretary (Iran), U.S. Ambassador (Lebanon), Hall of Fame baseball player (Netherlands), high-tech entrepreneur (Norway) and actor (Canada).
“Immigrants: The Pride of America” celebrates women and men who, after deciding to become U.S. citizens, applied for, and have earned their citizenship. These naturalized Americans, and many millions like them, have demonstrated their commitment to the United States and their loyalty to the Constitution. In return, they have been rewarded with all the rights and privileges—as well as responsibilities—that are part of U.S. citizenship.
Through its public service ad, Carnegie Corporation also salutes the contributions of the millions of other naturalized Americans who have made, and continue to make, our nation strong and vibrant. The foundation is supporting efforts to provide a clear pathway to citizenship for lawful permanent residents, and is committed to helping immigrants become integrated into the civic fabric of our nation.
Carnegie Corporation’s President, Vartan Gregorian, who was born in Tabriz, Iran, of Armenian parents and is himself a naturalized American, reminds us of that our country is an extraordinary and daring idea that is still being tested and must be nurtured: “Here, in America,” he said, “we are trying to form a nation that transcends its limits and where the people transcend their differences in order to share a common purpose and common ideals. And here, in America, we must all understand that participating in our civic life, the rich and vibrant life of our nation is not just a right but also an obligation. And perhaps most important of all, it means being a citizen.”
About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.
Birth Country | Name | Occupation | |
Afghanistan | Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi | Higher education leader | President, San Jose State University |
Albania | Tony Dovolani | Dancer | Dancing with the Stars |
Australia | Jill Ker Conway | Higher education leader | First woman president of Smith College |
Australia | Andrew Thomas | Astronaut | |
Austria | Theodore Bikel | Actor | Debuted in The African Queen |
Austria | Carl Djerassi | Chemist | Co-developer of oral contraceptive pills |
Austria | Walter Kohn | Physicist | Nobel Laureate |
Bangladesh | Abuhena Saifulislam | Imam | U.S. military's first Muslim imam chaplain |
Canada | Robert Birgeneau | Higher education leader | Chancellor, University of California, Berkley |
Canada | Martin Brodeur | Athlete | Hockey player, New Jersey Devils |
Canada | Mike Meyers | Actor/Comedian | |
Canada | Harold Shapiro | Higher education leader | President Emeritus, Princeton University |
Czech Republic | Lubomir Kavalek | Chess Player | International Grandmaster |
Czech Republic | Ivan Lendl | Athlete | Grand Slam tennis champion |
England | Martin Indyk | Diplomat | Former U.S. ambassador to Israel; Senior Executive Brookings Institute |
England | Angela Lansbury | Actress | |
England | Meryle Secrest | Biographer | National Humanities Medal winner |
England | Richard Wolffe | Journalist | MSNBC political analyst |
Estonia | Lauri Vaska | Chemist | Professor Emeritus, Clarkson University |
Germany | Monika Bauerlein | Journalist | Co-editor of Mother Jonesmagazine |
Hong Kong | Chui L. Tsang | Higher education leader | Superintendent/President of Santa Monica College |
India | Satish K. Tripathi | Higher education leader | President, the University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
Iran | Goli Ameri | Diplomat | Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Values and Diplomacy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies |
Iran | Cyrus Amir Mokri | Lawyer | Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Treasury Department |
Iran | Hamid Bilgari | Banker | Vice Chairman, Citicorp |
Iran | Nariman Farvardin | Higher education leader | President, Stevens Institute of Technology |
Iran | Vali Nasr | Higher education leader | Dean, Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies |
Ireland | Colum McCann | Novelist | National Book Award Winner |
Israel | Michael Arad | Architect | Designer of the World Trade Center Memorial |
Israel | Joseph Neubauer | Business leader | Former CEO of Aramark Corporation |
Ivory Coast | Michel Kouakou | Dancer | Winner of Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise |
Jamaica | Sanya Richards-Ross | Athlete | Olympic Gold Medalist |
Korea | Chang Rae-Lee | Novelist | Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award |
Lebanon | Youssef Ghafari | Business leader | Former United States Ambassador to Slovenia |
Mexico | Nora Volkow | Research psychiatrist | Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse |
Netherlands | Bert Blyleven | Athlete | Hall of Fame baseball player |
Nigeria | Victor Ukpolo | Higher education leader | Chancellor, Southern University at New Orleans |
Norway | Fred Kavli | Philanthropist | Established The Kavli Foundation |
Pakistan | Ayesha Jalal | Historian | MacArthur Fellow |
Pakistan | Shirin Tahir-Kheli | Diplomat | Senior Advisor for Women's Empowerment to the United States Secretary of State |
Peru | Carlos Bustamante | Biomedical Scientist | Professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley |
Philippines | Cheryl Diaz Meyer | Photojournalist | Pulitzer winner |
Poland | Gerda Weissmann Klein | Author, humanitarian | Medal of Freedom Winner |
Taiwan | Alice Y. Ting | Chemist | Winner of the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award |
Venezuela | L. Rafael Reif | Higher education leader | President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |