On April 28, the Fulbright Commission had the pleasure of hosting the 8th edition of the American Studies student conference, titled “Challenges to Pluralism, Democracy and Identity in American Culture”. Initiated by the American Studies program at the University of Bucharest in cooperation with the US Embassy, the series of student conference began in 2006 and was held at the American Cultural Center for the very first time. For the past three years, the Fulbright Commission – through its educational advising center – has been the proud host of the student conference. This year, the panels included papers on topics pertaining to race & ethnicity studies, performance & narrative studies as well as trauma, violence and memory studies. The opening remarks were kindly delivered by Octavian Roske, head of the English Department, University of Bucharest, David Allen Schlaefer, political counselor, U.S. Embassy, and Rodica Mihaila, executive director of the Fulbright Commission. The keynote speech, given by Mr. Schlaefer, touched on identity politics as reflected in the larger sphere of American politics and prompted questions from the students in the audience. The conference concluded with the remarks made by Roxana Oltean, professor of American literature and coordinator of the graduate program in American Studies, and Maria Sabina Draga Alexandru, professor of American literature and main organizer of this year’s edition of the American Studies student conference.