Newsletter Austrian-American Educational Commission

Issue 6 Winter 2012

Editorial Everyone associated with In this past year, the AAEC the Fulbright Program is also has been fortunate to accustomed to managing conclude new letters of un- “...to promote transitions. In the past six derstanding with five Aus- months one group of Ful- trian institutions of higher mutual brighters has finished their education, and this contrib- grants and a new cohort has utes toward increasing the understanding filled their places. Indeed size of those metaphorical these discrete groups of vineyards cultivated by Ful- between the grantees are not dissimilar bright grantees. The AAEC to Austrian wines. The pre- looks forward to watching people of the conditions for cultivation are these collaborative relation- good, and the seasonal con- ships grow and prosper in United States ditions for growth vary from anticipation of harvesting year-to-year along with the the benefits together! and the peoples size of the batch. However, if we take a look back at the end of the 2011-12 program of other nations Dr. Lonnie Johnson year and the beginning of AAEC Executive Director by means of 2012-13, we can be pleased with last year’s harvest and educational and the coming year’s promise. cultural exchange...” New Fulbright-TU Graz Visiting (from the Fulbright-Hays Act) Professorship

The AAEC is pleased to announce the estab- lishment of a new partnership agreement with the Technical University of Graz. The newly established Fulbright-TU Visiting Pro- fessor grant will be awarded for the first time in the 2013-14 program cycle to enhance its research agenda and collaborative efforts with business and industry in advanced ma- terials science; human and biotechnology; information, communication, and computing; mobility and production; and sustainable Prof. Horst Bischof (Vice Rector, TU systems. This award is part of a series of Graz) Prof. Harald Kainz (Rektor, TU new collaborative agreements concluded in Graz), Dr. Lonnie Johnson (Executive Director, AAEC), Mag. Sabine Prem AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN the past academic year which saw four Aus- EDUCATIONAL trian universities of applied sciences become (Head International Office, TU Graz), COMMISSION (FULBRIGHT AAEC partners: IMC Fachhochschule Krems; Prof. Hofmann-Wellenhof (Vice Rec- COMMISSION) FH JOANNEUM, Graz; FH ; and MCI tor, TU Graz) at the signing of the quartier21/MQ collaborative agreement establishing Museumsplatz 1 Innsbruck. The AAEC currently has collabora- a Fulbright-TU Graz Visiting Profes- A-1070 tive agreements with 18 institutions. sorship. Phone: (+431) 236 7878-0 Fax: (+431) 236 7878-17 www.fulbright.at Issue 6 Page 2 Newsletter Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE: Austrian-American Educational Commission

Pg. 1 www.fulbright.at New Fulbright-TU Graz Visiting Professorship

Pg. 3-4 Austrian and Hungarian Fulbright Grantees Border Encounter Like us on

Pg. 5 Fulbright Reception at US Ambassador Eacho’s Residence

Pg. 6 US Orientation for Incoming Grantees Follow us on Pg. 7 US Teaching Assistants Orientation Programs

Pg. 7 Receptions for US Teaching Assistants in all Nine Austrian Provinces

Watch us on Pg. 8 Exchange Fair from High School to PhD

Pg. 9 Fulbright Research Symposium

Pg. 9 Regional American Corners Workshop Read our Educa- tionUSA Blog on Pg. 10 USTAs Tour Theater an der Wien

Pg. 11 Two Publications on the Early Years of the Fulbright Program

Pg. 12 New Website for the US Teaching Assistantship Program

www.fulbright.at Pg.13 New AAEC Coworker Issue 6 Page 3 Austrian and Hungarian Fulbright Grantees Border Encounter

The Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission regularly plans enhancement events for its US grant- ees, and Huba Brückner, the director of the Hungarian Commission, had the wonderful idea to include the Austrian Fulbright Commission in one of these events by proposing that US Fulbright grantees from and Hungary meet at the site of the so-called Paneuropa Picnic on the Austro-Hungarian border (October 12-13).

In the summer of 1989, Imre Pozsgay, a Hungarian reform Communist and proponent of de- mocratization, and Otto von Habsburg, a German CSU politician in Bavaria (and technically the last person around with claims to being the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary), agreed to organize a picnic to celebrate European unity with a temporary border opening between Sopron in Hungary and St. Margarethen in the Austrian province of that would allow Austrian and Hungarian citi- zens from both communities to freely traverse the frontier. (The bilateral visa regime between the two countries had been liberalized and no longer required visas for Austrians or Hungarians, if they had passports, but a gate had to be cut into the existing fencing.)

At this event attended by Austrians and Hungarians on August 19, 1989, a contingent of East German citizens – estimated to be around 300 people – rushed the border gate, and the Hungarian and Aus- trian border personnel did nothing to stop them, creating a temporary “hole” in the Iron Curtain. This event contributed to the exacerbation of the entire question of GDR refugees in Hungary, which even- tually decided to allow GDR citizens to leave the country at will, thus increasing the pressure on the regime of the GDR to liberalize its exceptionally restrictive travel regime for GDR citizens….and open up the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

Austrian and Hungarian Fulbright grantees on the Hungarian side of the border with the (reconstructed) barbed-wire fences of the Iron Curtain in the background.

Issue 6 Page 4

l. to r.: Dr. Johnson (AAEC), Dr. Brückner (Hungarian Fulbright Commission), Prof. Vass (Rector of the Bu- dapest College of Com- munications, Business and Arts) Prof. László Vass, the current Rector of the Budapest College of Communications, Business and Arts as well as Fulbright alum and the current president of the Hungarian Fulbright Alumni Association, spoke at this event. In 1989, he was a deputy minister in the reform government and the highest ranking Hungarian government official at the Paneuropa Pinic on site. At this occasion, he shared his personal memories of that noteworthy event.

The two-day event also included a series of cultural highlights for AAEC grantees including a tour of Haydn’s birthplace in Rohrau; a visit to the Austrian Jewish Museum’s Wertheimer Synagogue in Eisenstadt, one of the few synagogues in the German-speaking world that did not fall victim to the so -called Reichskristallnacht in November 1938; a guided tour through the Hungarian town of Sopron; and a visit to the Esterhazy Palace in Fertöd.

US Fulbright grantees in front of the Esterhazy Palace Issue 6 Page 5

Fulbright Reception at US Ambassador Eacho’s Residence

The Ambassador of the United States of America, Wil- liam C. Eacho, III and his wife, Donna, invited incom- ing US grantees, Austrian Fulbright students and scholars who had returned from the US in the course of the past year, individuals and institutions instru- mental in providing support for the Fulbright Program in Austria, and AAEC board members and staff to a reception at their residence on November 28, 2012. At this annual event attended by seventy people, Am- bassador Eacho spoke about the importance of the program and reflected personally on his own experi- ence of living and working abroad in light of the fact that his four-year tenure as US Ambassador to Austria is drawing to an end. Mag. Barbara Weitgruber, Di- rector General of the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research, spoke on behalf of Austrian Federal Minister Austrian Fulbright grantees Mag. Karlheiz Töcherle, with closing remarks and thanks Maschenka Braganca (American University, being made by Prof. Karlheinz Schwarz, President of MA in Security Studies) und Gerda Ricken the Austrian Fulbright Alumni, and Dr. Lonnie John- (Brandeis University, MS in Molecular and son, Executive Director of the AAEC. Cell Biology)

US Ambassador William C. Eacho, III with US Fulbright grantee Kathryn Bouskill (Emory University), who is working on a comparative study of the treatment of breast cancer in Austria and the US

Issue 6 Page 6

US Orientation for Incoming Grantees

The Austrian-American Educational Commission welcomed 15 US Fulbright Grantees for the academic year 2012-2013 with an orientation program from September 18-21. Seven of the student grantees have awards that will allow them to pursue research full-time at a variety of different sites in Austria; eight of the grantees have awards that facilitate enrollment at Austrian universities for part-time study and are combined with teaching assistantships in Austrian schools.

The orientation provided students with a broad range of infor- mation on academic and cultural life in Austria. After a short welcome address by Jan Krč, Counselor for Public Affairs, US Embassy, Dr. Johnson gave a brief overview on the Fulbright Program highlighting its history and objectives as well as US Fulbright grantees Kimbery Seder structural and technical issues. Other speakers, including Dr. and Randy Hunter with Dr. Johnson Markus Bergmann, Austrian Ministry for European and Inter- (AAEC) during the boat trip on the national Affairs, as well as Dr. Joseph Leidenfrost, Ministry for Danube from Melk to Dürnstein Science and Research, provided the participants with insights into Austrian foreign policy and the Austrian system of higher education. Prof. em. Peter Gerlich from University of Vienna introduced grantees to domestic political landscape of Austria and outlined the peculiarities of the Austrian political system. The cultural highlights and historical landmarks of the city of Vienna were covered by Dr. Johnson during a walking tour through the city center, and an ensuing tour of the Austrian National Library acquainted students with the research facili- ties of the city.

The last day of orientation, an excursion to the famous Wa- chau Valley, included a tour through the Melk Abbey and a boat trip from Melk to Dürnstein and gave students an im- pression of Austria’s geographic and cultural diversity.

US Fulbright grantees on the top of the castle ruins in Dürnstein

AAEC staff and US Ful- bright grantees infront of the Melk Abbey Church Issue 6 Page 7

US Teaching Assistants Orientation Programs

Each year the AAEC facilitates the placement of over 140 US college and university graduates as teaching assistants in communities large and small all over Austria in a program funded by the Aus- trian Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture. Orientation seminars for the incoming USTAs were organized by the Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark and the Pädagogische Hochschule Salzburg and took place from September 24-28, 2012 in Graz, , and Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Salzburg. These introductory seminars are designed to make all Anglophone participants in the program (coming from Ireland, the UK, and the US) familiar with the Austrian school system and to acquaint them with the challenges of being foreign language teaching assistants. The seminars included pres- entations on classroom management, lesson planning, Austrian (school) culture, and also provided the USTAs with the opportunity to establish a network of friends and peers in Austria.

Alpine vistas for US Teaching Assistants on top of Reiterkogel in Saalbach- Hinterglemm during their orientation seminar in Salzburg Receptions for US Teaching Assistants in all Nine Austrian Provinces

Between mid-October and late November the AAEC collaborated with provincial governments and school boards from all nine Austrian provinces to organize welcome events for all Anglophone teaching assistants. These welcome events provided teaching assistants with unique opportunities to meet with provincial political and educational authorities, who generously hosted them, to re-connect with fellow TAs they had met at the September orientation seminars, and to meet “veteran” teaching assistants, who had returned to participate in the program for a second year. The offices of the following officials were responsible for organizing these receptions.

October 17: International Relations Office of the Governor of Vienna, Dipl.-Ing. Regina Wiala-Zimm October 18: Office of the Governor of , Dr. Erwin Pröll October 19: Office of the Governor of , Mag. Markus Wallner October 22: Office of the Provincial Parliament of Burgenland, Gerhard Steier October 25: Office of the Governor of , Gerhard Dörfler November 5: Office of the Second President of the provincial parliament of Salzburg, Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, MSc November 9: Office of the Governor of , Dr. Josef Pühringer November 21: Office of the President of the provincial school board of , Prof. Mag. Dr. Hans Lintner November 26: Office of the Governor of Styria, Mag. Franz Voves Issue 6 Page 8

Exchange Fair from High School to PhD

Under the auspices of International Education Week, the AAEC organized an exchange fair at the Amerika Haus in Vi- enna in collaboration with the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy on November 14, 2012: “Studienmöglichkeiten in den Vereinigten Staaten von High School bis Ph.D.“ The pur- pose of this event was to provide students of all ages with information on study opportunities in the USA at different points in their educational careers.

AFS described its signature program for high school students, and the International Testing Center of the Austrian Ex- change Service (OeAD) provided an overview of standardized tests ranging from the TOEFL and SAT to the GRE and GMAT. The University of Vienna, University of Economics and Busi- ness, and the University of Applied Sciences Krems each out- Mag. Elisabeth Müller (AAEC) lined the different opportunities they provide for students to study in the US in the course of completing bachelor or mas- ter’s degree programs.

AAEC staff provided an overview of the landscape of higher education in the USA with its 4,000 institutions, discussed the main challenges associated with studying in the United States, and addressed grants available under the auspices of the Fulbright Program as well as tips for people interested in applying for the program.

A final panel discussion on “EU Bologna Doctorate or Ph.D.?: Doctoral Education in the USA,” DI Peter Ertl, Ph.D. (AIT, AS- CINA) and Prof. em. Maria-Regina Kecht (Academic Director, Webster University), both alums of the Fulbright Program, Participants of the Exchange Fair at the joined Dr. Johnson for a discussion of the main differences Fulbright booth between doctoral programs in Europe and the USA.

Prof. Emerita Dr. Maria- Regina Kecht (Webster University), DI Peter Ertl Ph.D. (AIT/ASINA), Dr. Lonnie Johnson (AAEC) Issue 6 Page 9

Fulbright Research Symposium

On June 1, 2012, the AAEC hosted a Fulbright Research Symposium conceived to give US student grantees an op- portunity to present the results of their research to their peers and a wider audience. This year’s speakers included US Fulbright Students Lori Felton from Bryn Mawr College, who is completing a Ph.D. on Schiele’s portraits in Art and Architectural History; Eric Hounshell, a Fulbright-IFK Jun- ior Visiting Fellow from UCLA, whose dissertation ad- dresses the impact of the Austrian (and émigré) social scientist Paul Lazersfeld on the evolution of social sci- ences; and Jeff Horton from Pennsylvania State Univer- sity, whose dissertation focuses on the early modern pe- riod (“Religion, Modernization, and Army Chaplains in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1649-1750“). AAEC staff and U.S. Eric Hounshell, Fulbright IFK Junior Fulbright Professor Prof. June Pilcher (Clemson University) Visiting Fellor from UCLA, at the Ful- provided feedback. bright Research Symposium and Dr. Irene Zavarsky (AAEC)

Regional American Corners Workshop

On Oct. 4, 2012, the AAEC hosted a session on educational advising at its premises in the Muse- umsQuartier as part of a four-day workshop organized by the Vienna Training Office for Cauca- sus American Corner Coordinators attended by more than twenty coordinators working through- out the Caucasus.

Chris Medalis and Dorthy Mora from EducationUSA provided the participants with an overview of how the support and educational advising materials of EducationUSA fit into American Corner outreach and public information strategies, and AAEC staff members (Dr. Lonnie Johnson, Mag. Elisabeth Müller, and Molly Roza) gave participants an overview of the activities associated with the AAEC’s role as an educational advising center using hands-on examples.

Chris Medalis , Dorthy Mora (Education USA), Jan Krč (US Embassy), and AAEC staff members with partici- pants of the Regional Ameri- can Corner Workshop. Issue 6 Page 10

USTAs Tour Theater an der Wien

On Saturday, November 17, 2012 the AAEC organized a guided tour through Vienna’s oldest opera house, the Theater an der Wien. All 143 American teaching assistants placed in Austrian secondary schools were invited to attend, and 48 of them participated in the tour (with some participants making the trip to Vienna from as far as Innsbruck and Villach). The guided tour gave participants a detailed insight into the history and organizational structure of the Theater an der Wien and gave participants a chance to stand center stage as well as try on wigs in the make-up department backstage. After the guided tour, the teaching assistants had ample op- portunity to chat and exchange thoughts on their experience in Austria over a Punsch or Glüh- wein at the Christmas market in the MuseumsQuartier where the AAEC offices are housed.

US teaching assistants and Fulbright grantees on stage at the Theater an der Wien Issue 6 Page 11

Two Publications on the Early Years of the Fulbright Program

Two publications on the history of the early years of Ful- bright program in Austria were presented at a well at- tended event at the Amerika Haus on June 14, 2012. The first was a special volume of the Austria’s premiere journal for contemporary history, zeitgeschichte (2012/1) with the title „Impacts and Images: The Challenges and Limitations of U.S. Culturual Diplomacy in Postwar Austria and Ger- many “ that consisted of five articles based on papers pre- sented at an international conference the AAEC organized at the Amerika Haus in Vienna under the auspices of the celebration of its sixtieth anniversary on November 18-19, 2010: “Impacts: Does Academic Exchange Matter?” The second publication was a book by Thomas König, Die Früh- geschichte des Fulbright Programs in Österreich: Transat- Dr. Thomas König, author of lantische Fühlungnahme auf dem Gebiet der Erziehung, an Die Frühgeschichte des Fulbright Program abridged version of his doctoral dissertation that was based in Österreich to a considerable extent on research conducted in the AAEC archives and describes the impact of the Fulbright Program on the Austrian university landscape in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Prof. Oliver Rathkolb (Department of Contemporary History, University of Vienna); Dr. Thomas König; Prof. Mitchell Ash (Department of History, University of Vienna), who commented on the importance of König’s book; and Dr. Lonnie Johnson (AAEC) Issue 6 Page 12

New Website for the US Teaching Assistantship Program

The Austrian-American Educational Commission (AAEC) has launched a new website for the U.S. teaching assistantship program which it has managed for the Austrian Ministry of Educati- on the Arts and Culture (BMUKK) since 1962. The website provides potential candidates with all of the the information they need in order to apply for the program and has a newly created on- line application module that turns applying for this program into a paperless process. It also includes a short video as a teaser as well as testimonials from program participants. Last but not least, it also will serve as a platform for teaching assistants to share resources during the school year. The deadline for applications for the 2013-14 school year is January 15. Check out the links below!

The new website is accessible at www.usta-austria.at

Watch the video on Youtube. Issue 6 Page 13

New AAEC Coworker

www.fulbright.at In May 2012, Mag. Alexandra Enzi, the AAEC’s longest serving staff member, decided to assume a position in the National Agency for Lifelong Learning at the Austrian Exchange Service which entailed shifting her interests in interna- tional education into the venue of EU policy. Like us on Mag. Martina Laffer joined the AAEC team in August to fill the newly created position of program coordinator. In this capacity, Martina is responsible for administrative agendas common to the individual programs, including com- munications, logistics, events, media contacts, and the AAEC’s web presence.

Martina recently completed her Magister in political sciences at the University of Vienna and can look back on ten years of experience in academic and inter- national administration at the University. During her studies, she worked part -time as an administrative assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics and as an Exchange Program Coordinator before spending a year as student at Concordia University and working as a teacher Follow us on at a German-speaking school in Montreal in 2006. Upon returning to Vienna, she assumed a position as administrative assistant to Rector Georg Winkler at the University of Vienna and was responsible for a broad set of responsibili- ties, including his international agendas.

Watch us on

Martina Laffer, Programm Coordinator AAEC

Read our Educa- tionUSA Blog on