The Center for Austrian Studies

THE CENTER FOR AUSTRIAN StUDIES 2005-06 Annual Report the 2005-06 staff Director: Gary B. Cohen, professor of history, University of Minnesota. Education: B.A., University of Southern California, 1970; M.A., Princeton University, 1972; Ph.D., Princeton University, 1975. He was a historian at the University of Oklahoma from 1976 to 2001 prior to taking the CAS directorship in August 2001. His publications include two books, The Politics of Ethnic Survival: Germans in Prague, 1861-1914 (1981), and Education and Middle-Class Society in Imperial Austria, 1848-1918 (1996). In addition to serving as director, he is executive editor of the AHY and the CAS book series. Acting Director: David F. Good, professor of history and director of the Center from 1990-96, served as interim director for spring semester 2006 while Gary B. Cohen was Front row, left to right: Daniel Pinkerton, Linda Andrean, Nicole Phelps. Back row, left to on sabbatical. In additon to his regular duties, Good right: Gary B. Cohen, Annett Richter, Silke Stern, David F. Good. Not pictured: Arnold Lelis enlisted the advisory board’s aid in creating a draft and Jules Gehrke. (photo by Sabine Engel) document that will serve as the Center’s blueprint for the future. Editor: Administrative Manager: Daniel Pinkerton, M.F.A. in playwriting, Linda Andrean, B.A. in Anthropology and History, contents M.A. in European history, has worked at B.S. in Secondary Education, came to the CAS in Staff 2 the Center since 1990. He has edited the June 2004 after twenty years of service in the U the Austrian Studies Newsletter since January of MN Academic Health Center, including work The Director’s View 3 1992 and the Annual Report since 1991. He for the Cancer Protocol Review Committee, the Publications 5 also assists the director in special projects Medical School, and the School of Public Health. such as writing grants, website design, and At CAS, she oversees the Center’s administrative Events 8 preparing graphics for AHY. and financial affairs, and is involved with program Faculty 10 planning, fundraising, and student and community Student Support 12 outreach. Research Partners 13 Student Staff: Support & Collaboration 14 Jules Gehrke, a Ph.D. candidate in British history, took over as website editor when Arnold Lelis departed, was involved in the CAS website redesign, and began work on the forthcoming Making a Gift 15 Center volume based on the “Baroque Cities” conference. BMBWK Assistantship 16 Arnold Lelis, a Ph.D. candidate in medieval European history, was editor of the CAS website, editorial assistant for the volume The Enivronment and Sustainable Development in the New Central Europe and the Austrian Studies Newsletter. In January, he took a position as visiting assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. Nicole Phelps, a Ph.D. candidate in Habsburg history, was assistant editor of the Austrian History Yearbook and editorial assistant for the Austrian Studies Newsletter. Annett Richter, a native of Halle, Germany, and a Ph.D. candidate in musicology, coordinated the fall conference, was an assistant editor for the Austrian Studies Newsletter, and was assistant book review editor of the Austrian History Yearbook. Silke Stern, CAS/BMBWK Research Fellow, was funded by Austria’s Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Culture, and is a Ph.D. candidate in history. She coordinated the lecture series, the ACF competitions, and, with Linda Andrean, the Austrian student events. 2 the director’s view The Center for Austrian Studies faces a great challenge each year in constructing fresh, innovative programs that will showcase new research in Austrian and Central European studies and finding ways to support education in this field, while continuing successful activities from previous years. All this must be carried out within tight budgetary constraints. The difficult financial situation we expect for the next three or four years obliges CAS to be as innovative as possible in the content of our programs, while finding ever more creative ways to execute them. The market value of the CAS endowment fell dramatically with the broader decline in U.S. equities between mid 2001 and early 2003, but recovered much of its lost ground by spring 2006. In the meantime, the University of Minnesota Regents have adopted more con- servative endowment policies including a new income formula, so that the yield of the CAS endowment will remain near its low ebb for several more years. The Center must increase its efforts to secure grants for new ventures and to attract substantial contributions to support programs, fellowships, and basic operations. THE Year THat was By any fair measure, the Center’s programming during 2005-06 was remarkable in its range and variety. CAS was eager to diversify its public events, and during the past year we sponsored, in addition to our on-campus lectures, a chamber music concert and Lieder recital in St. Paul and an evening short story reading by a major Austrian writer, Josef Haslinger. The noted historian of Austrian Galicia and modern Ukraine, John-Paul Himka, gave the annual Robert A. Kann Memorial Lecture in September 2005, as well as a histrical lecture at a local Ukrainian Orthodox church. In late October, CAS, aided by a number of other units at the University of Minnesota, mounted a moving Sunday afternoon public presentation of readings, artworks, and music focusing on the lessons of survival and forgiveness offered by Holocaust survivor and revered emeritus professor of pediatrics at the university, Dr. Robert O. Fisch. A unique evening event in late April with Horst Rechelbacher, nutritional products entrepreneur, art collector, continuing exchange of professors and graduate teach- and ecological activist, drew a large and appreciative Twin Cities audience. ing assistants with various Austrian universities enriches CAS continued to advance scholarship by engaging in research collaborations wherever pos- instruction in many departments on the Twin Cities cam- sible. We cosponsored an international conference in Minneapolis in April 2006 with the Wirth pus. Each year since 2002, a visiting Austrian Fulbright Institute of Austrian and Central European Studies in Alberta, and we will join our Canadian professor has come with sponsorship from the Austrian- colleagues for the second part of that program in Edmonton in September. Together with the American Fulbright Commission, the College of Liberal Minnesota Center for German and European Studies and the Immigration History Research Arts, and CAS. In fall 2005, Gilg Seeber from Innsbruck Center, CAS also hosted a research workshop in April 2006. taught in political science. During the 2005-06 academic CAS contributes in important ways to teaching students at the University of Minnesota. Our year, Sari Fordham, a Minnesota graduate student in Eng- lish, taught American English for a semester in Salzburg, while Tina Weiden from the University of Salzburg taught OUR MISSION German on the Twin Cities campus. With assistance from CLA, its new Institute for Advanced Study, and the THE CENTER FOR AUSTRIAN STUDIES Department of Political Science, CAS welcomed the emi- • serves as a focal point in the United States for the study of Austria nent political scientist Peter Gerlich from the University and the Central European lands with a common Habsburg heritage of Vienna for 2005-06 after hurricane Katrina interrupted across disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, the applied his residency at the University of New Orleans. With help sciences, and the fine arts; from the University of Minnesota’s international services • analyzes Austrian perspectives as a powerful tool for understanding and the Carlson School of Management, CAS also wel- the new Europe in the age of the European Union; comed two exchange students from the University of Inns- bruck who had intended to study in New Orleans. • connects scholars, students, and an international community to The Center for Austrian Studies is particularly proud resources in Austria, Central Europe, the EU, and Minnesota; of its scholarly publication activity, which continued to • reaches out to a local, national, and international community of grow last year. Article submissions to the Austrian History educated nonacademics, bringing an awareness of Austria and the new Yearbook remain strong, thanks in great part to its editors’ Europe and its relevance to American life. acumen. During this last academic year, Charles Ingrao of The Center pursues its mission through a variety of activities that promote Purdue University completed nearly a decade of outstand- research, education, and training in the field and by serving as an ing service as article editor. Pieter Judson of Swarthmore international clearinghouse for information and scholarship. College has succeeded him. Also in the past year, Daniel please turn to page 4 3 the director’s view from page 3 Unowsky of the University of Memphis succeeded Our administrative manager Linda Andrean LOOKING AHEAD Catherine Albrecht of the University of Balti- kept the Center running smoothly despite our In the next few years we look forward to more as book review editor for the Yearbook. hectic schedule and reduced budget. She managed increasing the Center’s outreach to the Minnesota A new volume, The Environment and Sustain‑ program logistics, financial reports, and personnel community as well as to a broader national and able Development in the New Central Europe, edited matters. She convened our group of Austrian and international audience. Programmatically, we want by Zbigniew Bochniarz and Gary B. Cohen, Central European exchange students in the fall to give increased attention to migration from Aus- appeared in June 2006 in the book series Austrian and helped organize their activities. She developed tria and the neighboring Central European coun- and Habsburg Studies, which Berghahn Books new outreach and fundraising initiatives for CAS, tries to the United States and to the experience publishes in association with CAS (see p.

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