Volume 6, Number 1: Spring 2001

New Programs in the Focus

Profile

Innovation in Teaching

Beyond Teaching

CEP Publications

Funders Corner

Calendar of Events

Alumni Corner

Mission Statement

During the 2000–01 academic year CEP supports over 45 Fellows in Southeast Europe (SEE)* where the current program’s main focus is on intra-regional academic exchange and interaction. In addition to teaching, these Fellows work closely on several national or regional projects and are also part of projects involving scholars from other countries of Central and East Europe and Eurasia. Within the Stability Pact framework, the grant received from the Austrian Government supports CEP programs in Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia.

* The Civic Education Project is an independent not-for-profit organization that maintains neutrality on questions of international borders. The use of the place names Yugoslavia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo does not reflect any position on the question of changing or maintaining current internationally recognized borders.

 

 

The combined efforts of CEP’s Visiting Faculty Fellows and Local Faculty Fellows allow CEP to carry out or facilitate region-wide training, research, and exchange initiatives aimed at young scholars, as well as a wide range of student projects. Along with exposure to new courses and approaches to learning, CEP gives the students an opportunity to enrich their university experience through extracurricular events and activities. The aim of these projects is to enhance skills such as communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, research, and academic writing, and to facilitate a significant amount of transnational exchange and interaction among students from all countries of SEE, thereby promoting empathy and better understanding.

In addition to projects for students, CEP’s partner universities benefit from

outreach activities targeted at such things as teacher training, curriculum reform, and resource development. Another important goal is to promote scholarly exchange and interaction involving faculty from all countries
of SEE. These efforts will assist young scholars in their professional development, help break their isolation and promote regional networks and cooperation.

Sofia, Bulgaria, 2–4 March, 2001

CEP students from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Albania are invited to take part in this simulation exercise. Teams representing different organizations, governments and firms negotiate a given issue, trying to reach an agreement. In previous years the topics have been: 1999 – "Closing Down the Nuclear Reactors in Kozlodui" and 2000 – "Privatization of a Bulgarian Metallurgical Plant." The topic for the 2001

Negotiation Seminar is "A Balkan Transport Corridor: Determining the Route." Participants in this event receive a package with information and data on the issue and are asked to do further research in order to be able to propose solutions. This exercise provides the students with research and communication skills, and an opportunity to work in multinational teams.

Bucharest, Romania, 9–11 March, 2001

This conference will invite proposals from CEP students
in all the SEE countries where CEP has a presence. The conference will bring together approximately 45 students and 15 young scholars from the region. Student participants will present papers on the general theme of the conference, "Legacies and Challenges in Europe," in the following sub-themes: Solving Conflicts in Europe; Winners and Losers in EU Enlargement; Harmonization with the Acquis Communitaire – Impacts on Applicant Countries in SEE; and Social Inclusion and Exclusion. Papers will be grouped by topic into inter-disciplinary panels in which students will present their papers and take part in discussions and debates.

Timisoara, Romania, 15–19 May, 2001

This annual event brings together 50 students and 15 professors from SEE: Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using the Karl Popper debate format, the students will debate current issues confronting the Balkans, with the aim of eliminating prejudice and preconceived ideas and to promote understanding, empathy, and peaceful conflict resolution in the Balkans.

Local Faculty Fellows and Visiting Lecturers across borders meet regularly in order to discuss issues related to their teaching philosophy, challenges, and solutions for active learning. The main goal of the project is to contribute to a change in the teaching style and methods used in higher education in the region by providing a framework for sharing ideas, exchanging information and discussing methods of teaching.

As part of this project, CEP is planning to create a Teaching Methodology Forum on the web, where Fellows can share information, raise questions, and discuss possible solutions to the challenges of teaching. On this web page Fellows will also be able to find papers, articles, bibliographies, and other resources related to teaching.

European Studies Network and Roundtable
Sofia, Bulgaria, 15–18 February, 2001

The project is designed to develop a network of young scholars and to strengthen intraregional academic exchange and interaction in SEE in the field of European Studies education, while supporting the professional development of young scholars teaching and researching in this field.

Starting with the second semester of this academic year, Visiting Faculty Fellow Rory Keane will teach Theories of International Relations and European Union Politics at the Alternative Academic Educational Network and Academic Writing at the Belgrade Open School.

New Program Supports Muskie Alumni

CEP is pleased to announce the inception of a new support scheme designed for the alumni of the Edmund S. Muskie/Freedom Support Act Graduate Fellowship Program. Support for Community Outreach and University Teaching (SCOUT) is funded and administered jointly with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State and the Open Society Institute.

SCOUT is designed to provide continuing support to Muskie/FSA alumni of all years and fields of study from the Baltic States and the NIS. It will also assist these alumni in sharing the benefits of the training and experience received through their graduate study in the US with the academic and professional institutions and community in their home countries. The SCOUT Full Time Teaching, Part Time Teaching and Special Projects Grant Programs offer financial, methodological, institutional and informational support to the alumni who are interested in teaching in institutions of higher education and professional training, or in local communities; in developing projects that promote learning and exchange among students, faculty, and communities; or in facilitating exchange between higher education and professional public and private sector, government, NGOs and other academic and community organizations.

SCOUT is closely related to CEP’s Local Faculty Fellow Program and draws on the potential of an extensive network of over 200 CEP Fellows and alumni in the Newly Independent States to promote innovative and reform-oriented teaching contents, methodologies, and materials in social sciences and the humanities. The graduates of Muskie/FSA Fellowships have been active and productive participants in the Local Faculty Fellow Program in the NIS, and now, with extended funding and administrative support, CEP is able to offer them this new distinct program. Through SCOUT CEP is establishing even closer relationship with the organizations and foundations involved in East–West academic and professional exchange – US Department of State, Open Society Institute, American Councils for International Education, IREX, Project Harmony and other organizations promoting academic excellence.

Detailed information on the Program, application forms and contact information for SCOUT Coordinators are available from Civic Education Project web site http://http://www.civiceducationproject.org/scout

and e-mail: scout@cepnet.hu

• n Tom, you have just started in the CEP New Haven Office as Director of Faculty Recruitment and University Relations. Earlier, you spent 3 years in Central Asia as a CEP Visiting Faculty Fellow. Could you please tell me what the most rewarding experience was for you during that time?

Among many rewarding experiences, one of the best was seeing 7 of my former students depart to CEU and also to the US for graduate school this year. The CEP student conferences and teaching by CEP Fellows undoubtedly gave them the competitive edge in their applications. Close after that would be the pleasure of watching an academic department grow – the International Relations Department at American University in Kyrgyzstan is a CEP brainchild, and an excellent example of the benefits of clustering several Visiting Faculty Fellows and Local Faculty Fellows in one place.

• n Don’t you miss Central Asia now that you are settled on the East coast?

Absolutely! You can’t find fermented mare’s milk in any of the convenience stores in downtown New Haven...what is this place? Paying for a cup of coffee here the same amount that I’d pay in Bishkek for a 3 course meal, is annoying.

• n In your opinion, what are the most valuable contributions of CEP in the region?

In Central Asia, the student conferences have created networks of excellence and also confidence – I’ve seen students begin to see the relevance of social science, and also that they can be actively very good at it, the opposite of the message sent to them by the old system. CEP is thus making an enormous contribution to forming the next generation of social scientists in the region. The teaching methodology faculty workshops have also been fantastic. Also, thanks to CEP lecturers, Central Asian students have been exposed to intellectual currents as diverse as Spinoza and Frantz Fanon. Central Asia was terribly isolated in the Soviet era, and such broadened horizons are a way of overcoming this.

• n What was a major challenge for you as an academic in the region?

One thing which drove me crazy was the student’s habit of being perpetually late for classes. I never figured out if this was a Soviet thing, or whether this stemmed from the Kyrgyz nomadic past and non-Western conceptions of time, but students would always walk in even up to 15 minutes after the start of classes. In the end I resorted to locking the door after the beginning of class, which earned me an (undeserved) reputation as a disciplinarian. One welcome initial challenge I remember was that, being educated in the West, I had not realized before working in the former Soviet Union, that I unconsciously carried a lot of ideological baggage and assumptions around with me. Hitherto, I used to believe that I was a good ‘value free’ social scientist, sceptically knowing and critical of my own society. But as my students and colleagues learnt from me to question their core beliefs about their societies and political orders,
I learnt from them that I shouldn’t be too comfortable with mine either, and that I was as ‘value-laden’ in some respects, as they were. In the first year especially, I found it challenging to shed some of the arrogance and messianic zeal that surrounds a lot of Western social science, but ultimately very beneficial and

useful both in my work and personal life.

• n Are you planning to go back
  to the region soon?

My wife is Kyrgyz, and for sure we’ll be going back regularly. Kyrgyzstan is one of my favourite places on Earth, and I’d happily go back there and live one day.

"Tom did change my life. It is because he came to AUK and started talking about International Relations, I fell in love with the subject. It is because of that love that I am still studying political science and now suffering in Indiana. Hence, he is the source of my sufferings. He is guilty that now I am far from my home, whereas if I had stayed unenlightened I would be somewhere in the Kyrgyz mountains herding my sheep and cows, and enjoying the freshness of the mountain air."

Timurlan Moldogaziev

(attended CEP student conference
in Budapest in 2000, now
MA student at Indiana University)

CEP has long been involved in encouraging its Fellows to focus on teaching methods in addition to their commitment to curricular changes. Our strategy has been not to convince them to follow certain methods or approaches but give them the opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other, and of course get acquainted with the most recent literature. The list of related events and activities is long, therefore we decided to highlight one of them in each issue of the Newsletter.

From Words to Action:

The Advancement of

Active Learning in Belarus

In May 2000 a group of academics and NGO representatives from Belarus met in Minsk to discuss the issues of incorporating the methodology of active learning in the higher education classroom. This Roundtable, initiated and organized by CEP, built upon the experiences of the CEP Active Learning Workshops conducted in Hungary (Szeged) in 1997–1999 and laid the foundation for a network of university professors, methodologists,and NGO activists working in this field in Belarus and in the broader region of Eurasia. The unique feature of the Roundtable was the use of the methodology of "The Workshop of the Future," which allowed the participants to take responsibility and start working on specific activities and projects immediately. The first results are already being seen. Several meetings of the Master Class of Active Learning, training workshops, and initiation of an electronic database have already taken place in the summer and early fall 2000.

In November 2000, one of the primary organizers of the project, Larisa Kirilyuk of the Center for Educational Development at Belarus State University, started a long-term training and consultancy project with a group of over twenty CEP Eastern Scholars in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova on incorporating the strategies and techniques of active learning in their teaching. The overall approach of the project involves: immersing in the atmosphere of active and interactive communication and learning; adopting a new vision of the learning paradigm and exploring the changing roles of instructor and student. The project will continue through the end of the academic year with an on-line consultancy clinic and a final feedback and training session. Plans are in progress for a series of regional Summer School projects that will use a similar model.

Active Learning in Armenia

On May 13th, 2000 CEP Caucasus held a one-day Curriculum Development Workshop in Yerevan, Armenia. The workshop was aimed at university lecturers and participants from higher education institutions in Armenia and Georgia. The goal of the workshop was to acquaint the audience with new methods of instruction that use active learning techniques to promote critical thinking, reading and writing skills. The coordinators of the workshop were Armine Asryan, Hayk Gyuzalyan and Lusine Hovhannisian, all Local Faculty Fellows in Armenia, and Hans Gutbrod and Amanda Wooden, Visiting Faculty Fellows in Georgia. The workshop was held in two languages, English and Armenian, in order to reach a wider audience, hence the coordination between presenters in each language had to be carefully planned. Glen Nutter, a Visiting Faculty Fellow in Armenia, provided the presenters with a wealth of materials and Karen Hakobian, Country Coordinator in Armenia handled the organizational details.

Participants were led by each presenter through the various stages of course design and implementation. Many presenters used active learning techniques in their sessions so that the participants experienced for themselves how this might work in the classroom. Groups of lecturers threw themselves enthusiastically into the exercises and were surprised how much could be achieved in a short space of time by these methods. The workshop was successful but time was stretched to the limit and no more could be packed into the day. The materials and presentations are available in the CEP Armenia office in the expectation that other CEP countries and indeed other organizations may want to hold similar workshops.

Edu-Action

Innovative Teaching in Uzbekistan

Representing Anthropology and Anthropological
Representations in Eastern Europe

International Workshop, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 23–27 September, 2000

A group of academics, professionals and activists joined together in Yerevan on 14th of May for a one-day "Workshop on Gender Issues in the Caucasus," sponsored by CEP Caucasus. Approximately 80 people came together to participate in this day of presentations, discussion, and fellowship, while considering various aspects of gender relations in political, economic and social spheres. The workshop was coordinated by CEP Lecturers in Armenia, Pauline Hallam and Barbara Merguerian. Emily Lehrman, CEP External Relations Officer and Anaida Allakhverdyan, Programs Coordinator Open Society Institute in Armenia chaired panels, and CEP Lecturers Lusine Hovhannisian and Amanda Wooden both presented and chaired panels. Other presenters included six women from Georgia, who traveled to Yerevan specifically for this event.

Special guest Hranoush Hakobyan, one of four women deputies elected to the Armenian Parliament, welcomed CEP’s initiative in organizing the workshop and stressed the importance of the gender component in implementing current democratic and market reforms. "The state’s stance, at best, is characterized by adherence to formal equality, whereas the problem is to safeguard de facto equality and implementation of rights" Hakobyan asserted.

The end of the millennium encourages people to reflect on the past era and meditate over future. The congress held under the aegis of the Czech and the Slovak Embassies in co-operation with the American University focused on Civil Society and Democracy into the New Millennium. The general theme covered a wide range of topics. There were fifty-four panels in three days, usually eight to ten panels running simultaneously. One of the panels was organized directly by CEP and was dedicated to Higher Education Reform in Central Europe.

 

CEP Contributed to Panel

on Higher Education

Reform in Central Europe

20th World Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts
and Sciences — Washington, D.C., 8–13 August 2000

The panel was chaired by Emily Lehrman (CEP, New Haven) and consisted of six other participants. Emily Lehrman introduced CEP, its aims, progress and plans for the future. Then four Eastern Scholars or alumni presented results of their research and remarks on their personal experience as university teachers – Petr Jehlicka (Prague): Brain Gain: Sustaining Social Scientists in Post-Communist Countries; Ivan Chorvát (Banská Bystrica): Outcomes of the CEP Budapest Roundtable on Reform of Social Sciences in Central and Eastern Europe; Jan Stejskal (Olomouc): Czech Universities: Past and Present; and Martin Elbel (Olomouc): Nation and its Past: Teaching History at Czech Universities. These papers were followed by presentations of two guests: Vince Parrillo, Education in the Czech Republic and Carol Sheldon Hylton, Multiple Intelligences: Theory and Practice.

The main issue in the panel was the present state, successes, failures, and needs of higher education reform in Central Europe. The audience joined the lively discussion. Among them was Petr Pithart, vice-chair of the Senate of the Czech Republic and former Senior Research Fellow of the CEU. It was clear that the presented remarks, sometimes very different from official reports, surprised most of the listeners. However Mr. Pithart welcomed critical remarks from the speakers. Discussion revealed that transformation is only in progress and that difficult tasks still lay ahead. Nevertheless, the whole debate had a positive conclusion – at least there is will, capacity, and opportunity to change the present state. The need for further transformation is finally visible at the political level, and the Czech media presents this question more often than it did in the past. The alarming situation of Czech higher education will be discussed in the Parliament and new legislation dealing with higher education was proposed.

The First CEP

Workshop at Tajik

National University

Tajikistan is an ancient and fascinating country in Central Asia. It has sky-scraping mountains, alpine meadows covered with grass and flowers, yellow sands, and green fields with carpets of red poppies. The country is rich in clay, precious stone, cotton, and silk. Tajik silk is characterized with bright patterns, representing a feeling of festivity, beauty, and love of life.

As part of the reform and development of higher education in Central Asia, CEP and OSI Tajikistan organized the first CEP workshop at Tajik National University in Dushanbe. The workshop was held at the Psychology Department of Tajik National University between 14–25 October. The aim of this workshop was to assist the department to better utilize their knowledge and abilities in relation to social psychology. Within this program, emphasis was placed on introducing research methods in social mental health and illegal use of drugs. A series of lectures were delivered on the following topics:

• Research methods in psychology

• Adolescence, Family, and Relationships

• Young people and social environment

• Illegal drugs and alcohol

• Psychological disorders

• Psychology and mental health.

With respect to the training program, a group of 25–30 graduate students, university teachers, psychologists, and social workers attended the lectures. A few psychologists from Medicine Sans Frontieres also participated enthusiastically, in the program. As part of the evaluation process, Mr. Amonov (head of Psychology Department) and other psychologists expressed their pleasure with the training program, and their wish that another training program be organized in the future. They generally agree that CEP’s programs can have a positive impact on higher education in Tajikistan.

The Romanian Journal

of Politics and Society

Under the auspices of CEP Romania, the The Romanian Journal of Society and Politics came to life in 1999 through the skilled and indefatigable efforts of CEP Visiting Faculty Fellow and Romania veteran Yasmin Lodi. Yasmin truly deserves three cheers for single-handedly founding this ground-breaking journal and serving as the sole editor for its first three issues. Now that Yasmin has left Romania to continue work for CEP in Mongolia, the journal has moved into its new phase. Presently co-edited by Romanita Iordache and Annette Freyberg-Inan, it has been renamed the Romanian Journal of Politics and Society, given a narrower focus, and reorganized to continue to reflect the highest standards of professionalism.

The new Romanian Journal of Politics and Society is peer-reviewed and provides an international forum for the publication of high-quality, original social science relevant to contemporary Romania. Its goals are to support and enhance the quality of social science research in Romania and to collect significant international contributions to research on the country and region in one outstanding publication. The Journal promotes an interdisciplinary approach, and contributions from disciplines outside the social sciences are welcome as long as they address issues of relevance to contemporary Romanian politics, culture, or society.

The Romanian Journal of Politics and Society encourages the submission of high-quality original manuscripts which fall within its general scope or which address the specific theme or an individual issue. The Spring 2001 issue of the Journal will address the theme "Romanian Society at the Beginning of the New Millennium." The Fall 2001 issue will address the theme "Romania and the European Union." Reviews of relevant books, review articles, and responses to work previously pub-lished in the Journal are also considered for publication.

With questions, please contact the editors at reiordache@justice.com or freyberg_inan@yahoo.com.

Please address submissions and all other correspondence to:

The Editors, Romanian Journal of Politics and Society

Civic Education Project Office

Bd. Unirii Nr. 76., Bl. J3A, Sc. A, Ap. 2

Bucuresti 3, Romania.

 

 

Discussion Series

The CEP Discussion Series was launched in October 1999. Its goal is to inspire discussion on critical issues pertinent to the transitions of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and to encourage the dissemination of academic work by young scholars from this region to an international audience.

Volume 1, Number 1 — October 1999

Alexandra Horobet

& Bogdan Chiritoiu:

Euro-Shape and Local Content:
The Bottom Line on Romanian Higher Education Reform

Volume 1, Number 2 — November 1999

Ildikó Hrubos:

Transformation of the Hungarian

Higher Education System in the 1990s

Volume 1, Number 3 — January 2000

Elena Kovaleva:

Progress and Issues of Reforming

Social Science Curricula in Ukraine

Volume 1, Number 4 — June 2000

Nikolay Popov:

A Review of the System of Higher

Education in Bulgaria

Volume 1, Number 5 — July 2000

Nikolai Petroukovich:

Social Sciences and Higher

Education in Belarus:

Need and Potential for Reform

Call for Papers

Scholars from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia are invited to submit academic work (approximately 5,000 words in length) for consideration for the Series. Contributors should have received a postgraduate degree in the past ten years or be enrolled in a doctorate program, and preferably should be pursuing an academic career in the region. Please consult further instructions for submissions to the Discussion Series at http://http://www.civiceducationproject.org/discussion/ or by writing to the Civic Education Project’s European Office.

Call for Commentary

To promote intellectual exchange on the topics published in the Discussion Series, we solicit commentary and opinions on the issues presented. Readers are encouraged to contact the authors directly. Additionally,
the Discussion Series will publish selected comments in future issues. Submissions should not exceed 1,000 words and should be forwarded to the Civic Education Project’s European Office.

CEP Receives Trust for
Mutual Understanding Grant

The Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU) has agreed to support CEP’s "Environmental Policy Summer School" to focus on the development and introduction of environmental policy syllabi in St. Petersburg higher education institutions. The TMU grant will cover travel costs for five American experts and three Russian experts to participate in the event, to be held in June. The result of the Summer School will be the establishment of new and updated environmental policy courses at eight Russian universities in the area. By providing the means for specialists to paticipate in the "Environmental Policy Summer School," TMU will be directly enhancing the quality of the conversation and the resulting actions.

A St. Petersburg non-governmental organization called Dialogue-21 will assist CEP in covering other costs through in-kind donations of time and resources.

Carnegie to work

with CEP in Russia

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has given CEP a two-year grant of $350,000 to expand and strengthen the Local Faculty Fellow Program in Russia, beginning in academic year 2000–01.

The grant, approved in June 2000, will support publication activities, establishment of a small grants program, teaching materials donations, and professional training opportunities for Russian Local Faculty Fellows and Local Faculty Fellow alumni. CEP will also cooperate with Carnegie by placing Local Faculty Fellows at Carnegie’s Centers for Advanced Study and Education.

Further information about the Carnegie Corporation of New York and other programs it supports can be found at www.carnegie.org.

Polish Foundations Support Visiting Faculty Fellow Program in Poland

Two Polish family foundations have stepped in to help CEP continue its Visiting Faculty Fellow Program in Poland. The Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation and the Kosciuszko Foundation are each supporting one Visiting Faculty Fellow position for 2000–01.

The New York-based foundations were approached as part of CEP’s continuing campaign to attract a diversity of donors who recognize the value of sustaining the Visiting Faculty Fellow Program in Central and Eastern
Europe. The Jurzykowski Foundation is supporting a Visiting Faculty Fellow position in environmental studies, and the Kosciuszko Foundation is supporting stipend and travel costs for a lecturer teaching sociology and Jewish studies courses.

Two additional Visiting Lecturer positions are being funded by the UK based Juris Angliae Scientia organization. Partner donors are also being sought to help fund the Visiting Lecturer Programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. CEP welcomes all support to help keep these programs going. Anyone interested in assisting the Program in these countries may contact CEP’sDirector of External Relations:

Jayne Barlow

<jbarlow@cep.yale.edu>.

Calendar of Events 2000–2001

November 5

Education for Tolerance,
Critical Thinking and Equity
(Saratov, Russia)

November 8–11

Central Asian Research Skills
Seminar and Curriculum Development Workshop (Dushanbe, Tajikistan)

November 9–12

Central Asian Student Debate Forum (Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan)

November 13–14

Local Faculty Fellows Workshop on Active Learning and Teaching (Kiev, Ukraine)

November 15–16

Workshop on Environmental Journalism (Kiev, Ukraine)

November 25

Issues and Approaches for the Caucasus, Third Caucasus Regional Student Conference (Tbilisi, Georgia)

December 1–3

Integrating Europe: Traditions, Prospects and Challenges, Student Conference with the Anglo-American College (Prague, Czech Republic)

December 1–3

Creating Democratic Central Asia:

Diversity, Interdependence, Development,

Central Asia Regional Student Conference

(Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan)

December 7–9

Winter School in Sociology for Young Faculty (Kharkiv, Ukraine)

December 7–10

Winter School in Law for Young Faculty (Chisinau, Moldova)

January 6

Roundtable on Public Administration (Gdansk, Poland)

January 25–28

Sustainable Rural Development:
A Regional Collaboration in Curriculum Development and Teaching
(Godollo, Hungary)

February 9–12

Legal Education in the Postcommunist World: Training Legal Minds in
Transition Economies
(Yoshkar-Ola, Russia)

February 15–18

Southeast European Roundtable on European Studies (Sofia, Bulgaria)

March 2–4

Student Negotiation Seminar
(Sofia, Bulgaria)

March 9–11

Southeast European Student Conference (Bucharest, Romania)

March 9–11

Conference on Environmental Challenges in the Process of Eastward Expansion of the European Union (Gdansk, Poland)

March 9–12

Building a Political Science Program, Local Faculty Fellow Roundtable
(Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)

March 15–17

In Search of Common Ground: Conflicts and Resolutions in Transition Societies, Regional Student Conference (Kharkiv, Ukraine)

March15–17

Central Asian Research Skills Seminar (Nukus, Uzbekistan)

March 22–24

Regional Conference on Teaching Methodologies (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)

March 23–26

Russia Regional Student Conference (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)

March 23–26

Caucasus Debate Forum

(Tbilisi, Georgia)

March 30–April 1

Continuity and Change in the Baltic Sea Region, 7th Baltics Student Conference (Vilnius, Lithuania)

April 25–29

Future in the Making: Opportunities...

Choices... Consequencies, International

Student Conference (Budapest, Hungary)

May 15–19

Balkan Debate Forum
(Timisoara, Romania)

May18–20

Between East and West: American and Western European System of Education in the Light of a Central European Grantee’s Experience (Katowice, Poland)

June 18–19

Encountering the Other: Quantitative Methods in Feminist Research
(Saratov, Russia)

CEP Hungary Takes Social Responsibility

Multicultural Community Building

Based on CEP’s firm belief that democratic society requires critically minded and well informed individuals, CEP Hungary launched two exceptional outreach projects in the academic year 2000–01: The Multicultural Community Building Project (MCP), and a close cooperation with Romaversitas Invisible College which is funded by the Higher Education Support Program (OSI).

The MCP is an attempt to bring the different cultures re-presented by refugees in Hungarian state-run refugee camps closer to the social workers who work with them and to other representatives of the local community such as educators, NGOs and local government officials. In its effort to do so, CEP Hungary organizes roundtable discussions on issues related to multiculturalism within the camps and various cultural events in the local communities with the active participation of refugee representatives. The project is funded by the Dutch Matra Foundation and the British Know How Fund.

The cooperation with Romaversitas includes the support of one Romaversitas graduate as part of CEP Hungary’s Local Faculty Fellow Program. Meanwhile a strong group of CEP Fellows are being created who concentrate on academic research on the Roma and teach related subjects.

Petr Jehlicka

ES alumnus Czech Republic, 1997–98, 1998–99 received a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy in 2000–01. His project is: Environmental Implications of Eastern Enlargement of the EU: The End
of Progressive Environmental Policy?

Jan Stejskal

ES alumnus Czech Republic 1998–99, 1999–00 received a Harvard post-doctoral stipend for a one semester research trip to Villa Tatti in Florence, Italy.

Corneliu Berari

ES alumnus Romania received a Ph.D. grant to study at the University of Munich, Germany.

Alina Georgescu

Former CEP student in Timisoara, Romania, who, after studying in Bonn for an MA in European Studies, received a grant to do her Ph.D. at Limerick University (IR).

Lusine Hovhannisian

ES alumna Armenia 1998–00 has established a Legal Clinic at Yerevan State University (Armenia) which she directs. She received the CEP Stephen Grand Award in May 2000 and currently serves as the academic coordinator for CEP Armenia.

Marina Kvachadze

ES alumna Georgia 1998–99 established and currently directs a Legal Clinic at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Georgia).

Shalva Kipshidze

ES alumna Georgia 1998–99 is the office manager and Public Affairs Liaison at International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in Georgia.

Hayk Gyuzalyan

ES alumnus Armenia 1999–00 has been awarded an OSI International Policy Fellowship for 2001. His project is on Education as a Source of Individual Mobility.

Wynne Wright

VL alumna Hungary 1997–98 has initiated a joint student research project with CEP HungaryEFFKinga Milankovics on Sustainable Rural Development. Students from both sides will do individual research and a field trip over the course of the year.

Ways to Help CEP

• Donating Books

• Writing for the Newsletter

• Conducting Information Sessions

• Interviewing CEP Candidates

• Fostering University Partnerships

• Arranging Speaking/Fundraising Tours

• Becoming a Donor

Teach in Central/Eastern Europe and Eurasia in 2001–02

Be a Part of the Reform and Development of Higher Education

CEP’s Visiting Faculty Fellow Program offers university lecturing positions to Ph.Ds and advanced post-graduates in law, economics, education, sociology, history, political science, international relations, and public administration and policy studies. Most classes are taught in English. Lecturers will also work closely with CEP’s network of scholars on a variety of academic projects.

The Civic Education Project (CEP) is an international educational organization, founded in 1991, dedicated to assisting democratic reform by cooperating with universities and institutions of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. CEP collaborates with social science departments and faculties through the selection and placement of Visiting Faculty Fellows and the support of Local Faculty Fellows, who serve as lecturers at universities throughout the region. With the support of CEP, Visiting Faculty Fellows commit to teach and perform outreach activities for a minimum of one academic year. Eastern Scholars are local academics who have been to a Western institution for substantial graduate training in their social science field. CEP supports their efforts to work as academics in their home country by providing them with a monthly stipend, teaching materials and academic programs allowance, participation in various CEP events and activities, and access to CEP’s network of Fellows teaching throughout the region.

CEP currently works in twenty-three countries and supports approximately 200 Fellows in a variety of social and policy science disciplines, including fields such as international relations, sociology, political science, law, history, economics, public administration, environmental policy, and journalism/media studies.

Application deadlines

15 February, 2001 for Visiting Faculty Fellow positions

1 March, 2001 for Local Faculty Fellow positions

Information and applications

E-mail: cep@cepnet.hu  • Web Site: http://http://www.civiceducationproject.org