Appointments and Announcements

CEU’s First Destination Survey for 2011 showed an almost 5 percent increase in the employment of CEU alumni two months after graduation, with 72 percent of respondents saying that employers perceived a CEU degree as an advantage. This annual survey collects information from alumni six months after graduation. The data help CEU evaluate global employment trends and improve professional development services for students and alumni. Read the full report at https://alumnicareer.ceu.hu/career/fds.

Applications for Fall 2012 admission to CEU increased by 11 percent over last year to a record high of 6,569, with prospective students applying from more than 150 countries. This reflects growing recognition of CEU’s academic excellence as well as its mission to develop leaders committed to open societies, according to Peter Johnson, Vice President for Student Services. See full article here: http://www.ceu.hu/news/2012-02-07/ceu-applications-rise-11-percent-to-record-high.

CEU awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of Philosophy to Yehuda Elkana in recognition of his outstanding scholarly contributions and academic leadership at a ceremony in the auditorium on Feb. 3. President and Rector John Shattuck conferred the doctorate following remarks by Andras Sajo, judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and Leon Botstein, Chairman of the CEU Board of Trustees.

Kristof Varga has been named director of a new office designed to strengthen effective collaboration between CEU and OSI, with particular emphasis on the School of Public Policy and International Affairs. Varga, who has been with the Open Society Foundations since 1999, was most recently senior program officer working on local democracy, transparency, and civic participation issues. He can be reached at kzvarga@osi.hu.

CEU's Medieval Studies Department, in cooperation with Heidelberg University's Transcultural Studies Department, won a DAAD-MOB grant for a two-year joint project titled "Trans-European Diasporas: Migration, Minorities, and Diasporic Experience in Medieval and Early Modern East/Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean." The project entails student and faculty mobility, collaborative research, and the creation of a web-based research database.

Niels Gaul, associate professor in CEU's Medieval Studies Department, was appointed to the editorial board of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library/Byzantine Greek series from January. The Library, part of Harvard University Press, aims to fill the gap between the well established Loeb Classical Library and the I Tatti Renaissance Library series (both also with HUP).

The Center for Integrity in Government and Business at CEU Business School has received a gift-in-kind of software and training from Tata Consultancy Services to facilitate online monitoring and evaluation efforts. It is valued at more than $200,000.

Google has awarded CEU’s Center for Media and Communications Studies a $50,000 grant to join and support the Google network of institutions studying and advocating the free flow of information on the Internet. The center will serve as the network’s Central and Eastern European hub, and the grant will fund research on topics such as the relationship between new technologies and the media in transitional societies.

The 20th Anniversary Alumni Fundraising Campaign exceeded its target of $100,000, becoming CEU’s most successful alumni fundraising effort to date. Nearly 600 alumni from 50 countries made gifts from $1 to over $20,000. Proceeds will support student scholarships and the sustainable development of the university. Learn more at http://alumnicareer.ceu.hu/give-to-ceu.

CEU Business School received the European CEO Global Business Education Award as the most innovative business school in Central and Eastern Europe. Mel Horwitch, dean of the school, accepted the award in a ceremony at the London Stock Exchange.