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Volume 3, Number3 Winter 1998

Civic Education Project

NEWSLETTER

. . . SUPPORTING CHANGE THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION

THE HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: CEP Fellows in the Field

Besides the obvious criteria, CEP Fellows are chosen for their sense of adventure, proven track record of commitment, a passion for learning and promoting understanding. But it takes more than that to be a CEP Fellow. We recruit and place academics who will make friends, make a home for themselves, and who will make a difference. We could think of no better example of this CEP spirit than the Human Rights Educational Initiative (HREI).

This project had its genesis in snowy Siberia, with two veteran CEP Fellows, Dan St. Louis and Janet Helin. Dan St. Louis, who worked for thirty years as a social worker prior to joining CEP, initiated this project last year by founding a student human rights organization at his host university, Ural State University in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Janet Helin then brought her Internet savvy to the project, and what began as one student organization has now become a regional project.

The HREI is a project that entails a comprehensive effort to strengthen international understanding of, and discourse concerning, human rights through the vehicle of education and interaction with human rights organizations and activists. It attempts to do this through three interlocked pilot projects: Student Human Rights Outreach/Roundtable Initiative (SHRORI), Experiential Learning for Student/Community Human Rights (ELSCHR), and Student/Community Human Rights Education at a Distance (SCHRED).

The major thrust of the HREI is to work through the academic setting to provide students with an ethical and philosophical foundation for understanding human rights and to connect academia with community-based human rights organizations. In addition, through such activities as student roundtable discussions and conferences, students will have an opportunity to actively discuss and debate human rights issues and to learn to present scholarly papers addressing these topics. In the future, students will be able to publish their work in international journals and the news media.

Through their participation in the HREL students will acquire the philosophical understanding, practical training and international contacts enabling them to pursue careers in human rights education and support.

The goal of the Student Human Rights Outreach/ Roundtable Initiative is for students to participate in roundtable discussions. SHRORI will also offer students the opportunity to participate in training workshops and hands-on problem solving activities. Students interested in a particular top will develop an outreach project with the assistance of participating organizations and individuals. will also allow them to work with local an international human rights-related organizations.

The Experiential Learning for Student/Community Human Rights project (ELSCHR) is a series of practical training workshops designed to guide student and community participants in hum rights problem solving. The workshops will include several different methods of hands-on learning, such as role play, computer simulation, and mock crisis sessions. These workshops will be conducted by specialists and individuals with substantial personal or field experience in human rights problem solving.

The Student/Community Human Rights Education at a Distance (SCHRED) project born from the philosophy that international educational cooperation and the utilization of technology in the classroom would be critical facilitating the introduction of human rights education into universities and secondary schools in the region.

SCHRED is a three-semester pilot project, which includes an internationally team-taught distance education course, to be organized by local instructors for student and community participants at Soros University Internet Centers. Local instructors will provide Internet training addition to course supervision and evaluation. Course material will include comparative experience in human rights philosophy and problem solving instruction in information sharing and analysis, and the role of international organizations and non-governmental organizations in diverse areas of human rights implementations.

A volunteer team of international human rights scholars and specialists is already partially assembled. These scholars and specialists bring their own students and community groups to the project, to communicate with project participants in a virtual roundtable forum through the HREI Internet journal. The final semester of the pilot project will include an international virtual classroom course.

For more information, please visit the HREI

website at wwwcep.yale.edu/hrei.

Eleanor Roosevelt helped draft the United NationsDeclaration on Human Rights, 1948

CEP BUDAPEST
President
Donna Culpepper

Director of Baltic &Eurasia Programs
Nandini Ramanujarn

Director of Central & Eastern European Programs
Jeffrey A. Meyers

Program Associate
Katalin Miklos

Program Assistant
Gyorgyi Puruczky

CEP NEW HAVEN
Vice President
Susan Ingleby

Director ofFinance
Les Prokop

External Relations Officer
Emily J. Lehrman

Director of Faculty Recruitment 6- University Relations
Anne Clift Boris

Program Offlcer
Jacqueline Kozin

Financial Assistant
Diane Hoffman

Program Assistant
Shayne Asbury

CEP BOARD-OF-DIRECTORS

Dr. T. Mills Kelly (Chair)
Texas Tech University

Ms. Donna M. Culpepper (President)
Civic Education Project

Professor Shlomo Avineri
Hebrew University ofjerusalem

Ms. Anne Clunan
University of California, Berkeley

Mr. Leslie C. Francis
WinnerlWagner 6- Associates

Dr. Stephen R. Grand
German Marshall Fund of the US

Mr. Joseph S. Iseman, Esq.
1auk Weiss, Rilkind Wharton & Garrison

Mr. Lionel C. Johnson
Citicorp

Professor Stanley N. Katz
Princeton University

Professor Jacek Kochanowicz
Warsaw University

Ms. Wendy Luers
Aoundation for a Civil Society

Professor Gustav Ranis
Yale University

Professor Henry Rosovsky
Harvard University

From the Desk of the President

Dear Friends of CEP,

The 1998-99 academic year finds more than 200 CEP Fellows teaching in 19 countries. That's an increase over last year of 60 Fellows and one country, so we are continuing to grow, but we are also changing. This year, more than half of our Fellows are Local Faculty Fellows who have studied abroad and returned to their home countries. These Eastern Scholars not only changed the profile of CEP, they have added a valuable new dimension to our program. The combination of Visiting Faculty Fellows and Local Faculty Fellows provides an even more effective - and creative - team to work on curriculum design, on teaching methodology, and in introducing new materials and courses.

The Local Faculty Fellows help to deepen the Visiting Faculty Fellows' understanding of the country's culture and education practice; the Visiting Faculty Fellows reinforce the Local Faculty Fellows' understanding of modem education methods. Because we find Local Faculty Fellows so effective, our plan is to continue to increase their number, and to gradually reduce the relative number of Visiting Faculty Fellow positions. This is a most satisfying development in the course of CE Some of the Eastern Scholars, as I have reported to you earlier, were the students of Visiting Faculty Fellows back when the program started. So the program is reaping the results of its early plantings.

Armenia is the newest country in the CEP program. Those of you who follow the news of the Caucasus will know that the country is now in a state of relatively better stability than it has been. As small our contribution might be, we think it is an important introduction of "normal" activity in t country. In this first year of our program there, Armenia will have three Visiting Faculty Fellows and two Eastern Scholars. The Armenia group is working closely with the six Fellows in Georgia under

guidance of Nino Dzotsenidze, the Caucasus Country Director, to plan the first Trans-Caucasian Student Conference, as well as workshops on curriculum development.

We were pleased to be able to add four more Fellows to our new program in Uzbekistan this year. Th group, combined with the Fellows in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, makes a total of 19 in Central Asia. As you can see, our expansion is moving us further east every year. We are constantly assessing (and reassessing) how we can most usefully deploy our resources, and this move into Central Asia is a result of that process.We don't move until we think we have a reasonable expectation to make a difference and so far, our expectations have been met.

Providing the resources necessary to support our varied programs remains one of our highest priorities. I important to have not only the amount of support we need, but we think that as die program continues respond to the changing needs of the region it works in, we need to diversify our sources of support as

TO that end, we recently engaged Aileen Rainbow, who was a CEP Visiting Faculty Fellow in Russia for t past two years, to identify partners in Western Europe. Aileen is a German citizen, and a graduate the Free University of Berlin as well as Oberlin College.We are working with her to develop important new contacts for CEP which will make us even more international in composition and flavor.

We look forward to hearing from the friends of CEP from all over the world and hope you will stay involved with CEP.

Best wishes,

Donna M. Culpepper, President

Donna Culpepper (left), President of CEP and Nino Dzotsenidze, Country Director GeorgialArmenia, cut the celebration cake at the Caucasus Orientation.

New Haven Report

Dear Friends of CEP,

I joined CEP in July, just in time for Orientation. There was no better way to start my tenure than to meet this year's crop of lecturers and to see first hand the fulfillment of CEP's mission by these talented and committed people. It was also a great opportunity to meet the Budapest office staff and the Country Directors. The dedication I saw everywhere made me realize how fortunate I was to have joined such an organization.

My primary task in these first few months at CEP has been to learn and understand the myriad processes and procedures that the staff in the New Haven office performs, and to design or re-design their workloads for maximum effectiveness. Some of the highlights of the last few months are as follows:

As CEP grows and expands across more and more time zones, a greater burden is placed on responsiveness and communication. This is not only true for the staff and current lecturers, but also for outgrowing ranks of alumni. I look forward to meeting you, learning from you, and working with you, as we help take CEP forwards. I hope you will contact me at any time with your ideas, suggestions, and comments.

Thank you.

Susan Ingleby, Ph.D., Vice President

NEW ADDITIONS

TO THE CEP BOARED OF DIRECTORS

Lionel C. Johnson, Vice President and Director of International Government Relations of Citicorp/ Citibank, is the newest member on CEP's Board of Directors.

Mr. Johnson previously served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Development, Debt and Environmental Policy, and was a member of the Clinton/Gore transition team. During the 1992 campaign he helped coordinate foreign policy planning as assistant to Senior Advisors Anthony Lake and Samuel R. Berger. Mr. Johnson also worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs as a Senior Program Officer from 1990-1993.

Mr. Johnson's impressive background in domestic politics as well as international development work bodes well for the Civic Education Project. In addition, Mr. Johnson's eight years in the U.S. Foreign Service makes him a welcome addition to the Board of Directors.

Jacek Kochanowicz, Professor of Economics at Warsaw University, also joined the CEP Board of Directors in 1998. He has been a guest professor at the University of Washington and the University of Chicago, is published in multiple languages and is Chair of the Board of the Bank of Social and

Economic Initiatives in Poland.

We welcome Lionel Johnson and Professor Kochanowicz to the CEP family, and look forward to many years of working with them.

LionelJohnson (left), new BoardMember, with Ste phen Grand,

co-founder of CEP

"INNOVATIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES" IN ROMANIA

The Civic Education Project initiated the Teaching Development Project (TDP) in 1996 with the aim of helping Romanian teachers to improve their teaching skills. The project consists of a series of workshops that focus on practical issues, methods and teaching strategies.

On October 23, 1998, at the suggestion of CEP Local Faculty Fellow Tiberiu Alexa, the first workshop in the Innovative Teaching Strategies series took place in lovely Baia Mare, Romania. The series was organized by the Civic Education Project, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the Fullbright Commission.

"This workshop series represents the beginning of a cooperation between CEP and the Ministry of Education," said Liana Ghent, Country Director for CEP Romania. "Throughout the academic year we will organize several such workshops in different areas of the country."

The first workshop of this series was accompanied by three guest lectures delivered by CEP Visiting Lecturers at universities in Baia Mare.

"Both the workshop and the guest lectures succeeded in strengthening ties between different universities and high schools in the country, thus adding more dynamism to our work and making its impact larger."

Participants in the Innovative Teaching Strategies series discussed ways to create a productive learning environment for their students; ways to use assignments to provoke an enthusiastic response from students, and interactive teaching methods.

"This workshop gave me an opportunity to share ideas on different teaching methods and at the same time it reassured me that the techniques I have been using are good," remarked one high school teacher.

The two Fullbright Fellows and four CEP Fellows that were serving as moderators for the workshop then led the group in a structured debate, which brought about a discussion on "debate" as an alternative learning technique.

"It was very interesting to exchange opinions with people who have similar interests and who have such a wide experience in teaching methods. I have learned many new things, which I look forward to developing and applying in my classes, " remarked another teacher. at the end of the Baia Mare meetings.

On December 15, 1998 CEP was awarded special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. This is a prestigious honor and it recognizes CEP's inclusion in, and importance to, the international community. This status will allow CEP to submit written statements to the Council, send representatives to public meetings, attend relevant international conferences convened by the Council and potentially make oral presentations to the Council. The Council may also periodically seek CEP's input on matters of its expertise. Likewise, CEP country teams can serve as resources to their local UN representatives.

NEWS FROM RUSSIA

From our Moscow office:

"As you probably know from watching the news on television, the crisis in Russia is far from coming to a end. The not-so-firm basis of civil society in Russia is now threatened by hyperinflation and civil unrest. Our Deputy Country Director in Siberia witnessed a large demonstration in October when amid heavy police presence, a crowd of almost 7,000 people gathered to call for the resignation of the local and federal authorities, and claim unpaid wages.

"The local-press in Russia has been carrying anti-Western articles with increasing frequency. The ruble exchange slid from 6 rubles to the dollar in August to 19 rubles to the dollar at this writing (December). For example, dinner at the TRAM restaurant in Moscow was approximately $15.00 per person in August, but now would cost $60.00 per person.

"The banking system is still paralyzed. Many ATMs remain switched off. Some bank branches were paying out small amounts of rubles to those who stand in line for hours to try and rescue part of their savings. It is unsurprising to see many small businesses close down. Many newspapers and magazines have also closed down. The Tax Inspectorate has become particularly nervous and hyperactive in attempts to crack down on almost universal tax evasion.

"Most shops still stock goods, however, the selection is noticeably poorer, as imports are down. Moreover, the financial crisis might soon lead to an energy crisis; power and water supplies (or hot water supplies) may be cut off for a number of hours each day, and hearing may be more limited than is usual in winter.

"Despite these difficulties, our lecturers' morale is high and they remain committed to their students and the program."

Nicholas Sellers (left), Visiting Faculty Fellow at Babes Bolyai and Yasmin Lodi (center), Visiting Faculty Fellow

at University of Bucharest, surrounded by teaching workshop participants.

Liana Ghent, Country Director Romania, speaking at the Balkan Debate Forum.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES ON ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM IN POLAND

Dr. Joseph Grubbs, a CEP Fellow living and working in Gdansk, Poland, has put together a landmark student conference entitled "Administrative Reform: Institutional Change and Implications for Democratic Governance".

He initiated this conference in order to explore the concept of administrative reform in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly current administrative reform in Poland.

He says, "while the mainstream continues to view administrative reform as necessary for effective governance and the creation of civil society, others see the reform agenda as a political maneuver, geared toward the realization of limited, short-term interests of the current political elite."

The conference took place in Gdansk, Poland, from December 11-13, 1998. It featured papers from students in the following disciplines: Economics, Political Theory and Science, Public Administration, Management Law and Legal Studies, Mass Media, and the study of European Integration.

The conference was targeted toward students, academics and practitioners who have an interest in the current administrative reform agenda, in the hopes that such a diverse audience will ensure consideration from a theoretical and practical standpoint.

THE 1999 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE

April 13-18, 1998, Budapest, Hungary

The 1999 CEP International Student Conference will continue the theme established at the 1998 1SC: the on-going transformation of social, political and economic life in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Important questions remain as to whether reform has met the expectations of the people and whether they will or should continue to proceed along a similar course. Hence, the theme, "Ten Years after: Moving Forward ... Looking Back?"

Students will be asked to address such questions as the extent to which nostalgia for earlier times or for more stable conditions is emerging as a force, whether things of value have been lost in the transition, what have proven to be the biggest obstacles to the transformation process, how far reforms have come in ten years, and how to sustain momentum.

A CASE STUDY OF CEP INVOLVEMENT

by Paul Cantor, CEP Fellow 1995-97, Bratislava, Slovakia

Democracy in Slovakia? was the provocative tide of an open forum held on April 21, 1998 at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. The event was attended by more than three hundred people. Anthony Pahigian, the Chief Political Officer at the US Embassy in Bratislava, and Sven Kuhn Von Burgsdorff, member of the European Union’s delegation to Slovakia spoke at the Forum. Peace Corps volunteers foreign students, faculty members, members of the press, and representatives of political parties an non-governmental organizations attended this forum. Also present were students from the Economic University and the City University and nearly all of the faculties of Comenius University.

Why did we focus on democracy in the first open forum? The reasons are three-fold. First, most people in Slovakia agree with Winston Churchill's famous statement "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried." Secondly) a country must be judged to be a democracy to be admitted to the European Union, and Et membership is a stated goal of the political leadership in this country. Third, the primary reason cited by analysts for Slovakia’s limited success in attracting foreign investment is that investors do no yet view it as a stable democracy. For all these reasons, we asked whether the perception that Slovakia is not yet a stable democratic state is fair and accurate?

Students to Promote Democracy in Slovakia (SPDS) organized the Open Forum. SPDS was formed in Bratislava by students at Comenius University under the guidance of Civic Education Project Fellows The organization’s goal is to promote open forums that bring academics and the wider community

together to discuss issues of importance to the social welfare of Slovakia.

Two days after the forum, the organizers met to evaluate it and to plan similar events for the future. The overwhelming consensus was that the Forum far exceeded the coordinators' expectations. No one anticipated that so many people from so many different colleges and organizations would attend. Furthermore, no one expected the discussion to be as lively or as inspirational as it was. The room was packed throughout the proceedings, and when it ended there were still many people waving their hands, hoping to be recognized.

As a professor, it concerns me when students are reluctant to ask questions and challenge idea in the classroom. But, as someone Who favors democratic government, it concerns me eve more when individuals tell me that they are afraid to come to forums such as the Open Forum because they fear they will lose their jobs. Democracy, if it is to flourish, requires people wit the courage to speak out even in the face of threats and intimidation. What else does democracy require?

A VIEW FROM INSIDE:

Impressions of an Institution as a Microcosm of a Society in Transformation

Imagine an institution under Soviet management since its inception; in fact, imagine a Communist Party training school in the Kazak Soviet Socialist Republic. Next, it's 1992, a year after Kazakhstan's independence. By resolution, the president of the republic, Nursultan Nazarbaev, transformed the school into the Kazak Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, fondly known as KIMEP Although the institution has a new mandate to "train personnel ... according to the highest standards of the European Community and the United States," has anything really changed in the past six years? The changes at KIMEP are a good indicator of economic and social changes in the country.

KIMEP had approximately 450-500 students during the 1997-98 academic year. The institute boasts an international senior faculty from as far away as India and Kentucky Furthermore, this facility of higher education has been very active in training excellent quality students and in introducing innovative teaching methods. Although the quality of instruction is quite high by regional standards "it must continue to improve" said Dr. Chan Young Bang (chair of the Board of Directors), so that KIMEP students can compete internationally. Much of this has evolved because, unlike many universities, KIMEP is very responsive to finding opportunities for junior faculty and students, rather than just for its top administrators and senior faculty.

KIMEP's success in garnering international support for its institution has allowed it to introduce a preparatory English language year for students who need it. The Institute has been able to open a student computer center.

Furthermore, since the return of Dr. Bang this fall (to an office across the hall from CEP), a new dynamism has been generated within the institution. Dr. Bang has the mandate (given him by President Nazarbaev) to privatize KIMEP within the next three years. Dr. Bang and his multinational team have been busy developing internal proposals to restructure the institute in order to improve efficiency and standards, as well as generating external support for the privatization process itself.

Although MMEP will attempt to make this transition as smooth as possible, effects will certainly be felt by its employees. There are some four facilities staff for every faculty member, some of whom are bound to be casualties in the KIM transformation. President Nazarbaev has attempted to ease this evolution issuing a decree this October requiring all state enterprises to reduce their staff 25%. Now the responsibility falls on the president rather than on the process restructuring. While this will help to make many entities more economical, it naturally creates a difficult situation for many of the people who will be laid These individuals will have problems finding employment in another bloated enterprise. All state bodies and the government of Kazakhstan must even face this problem, as unemployment will increase tremendously. But, brought down to the human level, who will change burned out light bulbs clean the floor or prepare the food in the school cafeteria? It is difficult to imagine how someone who has few skills can be absorbed into the new job market. As 25% of the s must be let go in the near future, the man who changes the light bulbs will be, the only person4n this situation.

ALUMNI BULLETIN BOARD

When our alumni return from the region, they leave not only their host universities and hundreds of students, but also a close network of friends. When we ask past CEP Fellows what they would like to receive from CEP after their time with us, the response most often given is "a forum where we can keep in touch with each other." Given that CEP has an alumni base of some 600 people, this is a daunting task.

In response to these requests, CEP has added a bulletin board to its web page. This bulletin board is an interactive message board, where alumni can post greetings, job announcements' publishing opportunities and conference information for one another.

This board is password protected, so that only CEP alumni are able to access it. If you are a CEP alum, and you would like a username and password, or if you are interested in working with CEP alumni, please contact Anne Clift Boris at aboris@cep.yale.edu.

THE SLOVAK NATIONAL ELECTION - SEPTEMBER 1998

by David Reichardt, CEP Fellow 1997-99, Bratislava, Slovakia

On September 25th and 26th, the Slovak people went to the polls to elect a new national government. As a political science lecturer in Bratislava, I was keenly interested in this election, not least because it would provide the forum for a national referendum on the neo-authoritarian government that has been in power since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Fortunately, I was able to observe the electoral process first-hand, as I accompanied our Country Director, Zora Vidovencova, to the polls in Bratislava.

Upon entering her precinct, I was immediately struck by the large turnout. Id’ been an election judge in the United States for several years, but rarely witnessed the lines and numbers I observed in Bratislava. Apparently, the situation was similar throughout the country. In fact, official statistics subsequently put the overall turnout at 84.3 (higher than in any neighboring country, with extremely high youth participation).

International monitoring of the election was also well in evidence. I personally observed the OS( presence at Zora's particular precinct.

To the astonishment and delight of a majority of Slovaks, the election resulted in a new government which, according to all indications, appears to be committed to further democratization and the rule of law. Time will tell. However, what is clear from observing the election process is that these core values already well instilled in the general populous which, one can be sure, will not easily relinquish them

David Reichardt, VFF Slovakia, teaching at Comenius University in Bratislava.

HISTORICAL STUDY AS FREEDOM OF SPEECH

by Anne Clift Boris, CEP Fellow 1995-1997, Minsk, Belarus

Medieval history, a subject I taught for three years in Minsk, Belarus, can seem remote from modern experience; yet paradoxically this can make it a vehicle for freedom of speech as I found during three years of teaching in Minsk, Belarus (1995-1998).

Belarus today does not have freedom of speech. Even before this spring's new law, which makes criticism of the president a crime punishable by four years in jail, the administration of President Lukashenko forbade the sale of opposition newspapers in kiosks, limited their access to printing facilities, jammed Russia's independent TV news broadcasts during elections, and arrested journalists. Major critics, including members of parliament, were beaten by official thugs. However, my students had grown up in a society with 70 years' experience dealing with restrictions on freedom of speech. I soon found that my students were adept at playing an old Russian game of transparent disguises for the object of criticism.

Many students at the European Humanities University, the first non-state university in Belarus, were highly critical of the government. In 1996 the students' skit had featured direct political lampoons, but as the political climate worsened and the presidential administration put pressure on a variety of NGO's, the university leadership asked the students to avoid all political references in their 1997 skit. The students responded by memorizing and performing a long rhymed "skazka" or fairytale, whose plot revolved around the stupidity of the tsar; audience reaction made it clear whom the "tsar" represented.

This kind of tradition made it easier for my students to see the relevance of history. The medieval investiture conflict between pope and emperor that led to medieval theorizing about how the highest power in a hierarchical system could be brought to justice, was directly relevant to my students who lived under a president who allowed no criticism. The failure of either pope or emperor to gain complete power over the other and the resulting duality in the medieval theory and practice of power, were intriguing to students in a country in which one man was increasingly assuming all power. When I discussed the development of theories of resistance to unjust rule, the students felt they knew exactly what I meant. Sometimes the parallels were uncanny; when I lectured on the English Civil War, and got to the part where Cromwell's New Model Army surrounded the parliament and did not permit the majority of Members of Parliament to enter, the parallel to recent Belarusian events was so exact that I was afraid my students would think I was making it up!

All my history classes required the students to write an essay analyzing some aspect of an assigned reading in original sources, and I suggested that students close their analysis with their own personal reaction to the reading. In many cases, I found their reaction consisted of an unfavorable comparison between medieval rulers and their own president. In every case, writing the essays gave them a window into the past, and reading them gave me a window into the society in which I lived and worked for three years.

CEP'S LOCAL INITIATIVE BECOMING AN INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

Distributing information on academic opportunities among students and faculty of partner institutions has always been among the priority outreach activities of CEP in Ukraine. In 1996 CEP-Ukraine joined with the CEP-created Zaporizhzhia Center for Social and Economic Research (ZCSER) to publish a compilation of announcements for various exchange programs in a separate brochure. This brochure was then distributed among universities throughout the country.

In response to very positive feedback from the institutions and individual students, and the need for more comprehensive and extensive sources of such information, we published a second edition in 1997, followed in October 1998 by the third edition of the Scholarship Opportunities Handbook. The 1998 edition was considerably larger than the earlier versions of the Handbook. The publication lists over one hundred secondary schools, undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programs, summer schools, fellowships and other academic exchange programs administered by various national, international, governmental and private organizations and foundations. It also provides a listing of organizations and contact information for the major academic exchange agencies that are active in Ukraine.

These features make it the most comprehensive collection of such information available in the country. This year's Handbook is a collaborative project that received funding and assistance from the following organizations: Zaporizhzhia Regional Resource Center for Civic Organizations, CEP, United States Information Service, British Know-How Fund, ACTR/ACCELS and Economics Education and Research Consortium offices in Ukraine. The handbook is distributed widely through the network of CEP fellows, International Educational Advising Centers, and many other resource centers and agencies.

CALL FOR PAPERS

On February 26, 1999, CEP Romania will launch the "Romanian journal of Liberal Arts" (RJLA), a semi- annual academic journal published by CEP Romania in English. The journal offers a forum for presenting and discussing contemporary research in all fields of liberal arts: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law. RJLA will publish articles that focus on new research on Romania and its physical and cultural environs. Book reviews will also be considered. Scholars from the region are welcome to submit articles or book reviews, as long as they refer to Romania or its relationship to the regional context.

If you are interested in the Romanian journal of Liberal Arts, please contact its Editor, CEP Fellow Dr. Yasmin Lodi at ylodi@dnt.ro.

01eksandr Shtokvych, Country Director Ukraine/ Moldova/Belarus and Sheri Deeter, former Deputy Country Director, at an education fair in Kyiv.

EASTERN SCHOLAR INITIATIVE IN ACTION

The Civic Education Project in Ukraine first began holding national student conferences in 1994 as a way to improve students' academic skills and to provide them with the opportunity to discuss their work with other students throughout the country. As the program developed and expanded to new countries, the national conferences were transformed into regional conferences in order to diversify student participation and provide a forum for international contacts. CEP has held conferences that are international in scope since 1992.

Following the tradition and pattern of CEP student forums, Irina Taranenko, a CEP Eastern Scholar in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, decided to organize a city-wide student conference for students from Dnipropetrovsk. CEP supported the initiative and provided funding for the event. The conference, held on October 30-31, 1998, at the Dnipropetrovsk State University, consisted of sixty-five student participants and ten university instructors. As in CEP regional conferences, the students prepared and presented their papers in English, which provided them with much needed practice and exposure to academic conference preparation. The conference also provided students with information and application materials on the Central European University, international student exchanges, and post-graduate degree programs in Ukraine.

For most of the participating students, this was the first exposure they had ever received to an academic conference and many were enthusiastic about the possibility for future participation and for establishing international contacts. The conference materials will be published in a collected volume and distributed to students and instructors who participated in the conference. Most important, the conference itself was the initiative of Local Faculty Fellows, demonstrating that CEP activities have become a model for the Local Faculty Fellows and local institutions to expand their outreach activities.

EASTERN SCHOLAR ALUMNI AWARD ESTABLISHED

The Stephen R. Grand Eastern Scholar Alumni Award was established by the Civic Education Project Board of Directors in 1998 to recognize the long-standing service and unsurpassed dedication to CEP of Dr. Stephen R. Grand, co-founder of the organization and former Chair of the Board. Grand has been an ardent supporter of the Local Faculty Fellow program from its inception in 1995 and has been particularly interested in the future of Local Faculty Fellows after completion of their two-year tenure with CEP. The award is intended to address this issue by providing follow-on support to Local Faculty Fellow alumni who continue to pursue the mission CEP with superior teaching and university reform efforts.

CEP will grant up to three $1,000 awards annually in Grand's name. Contributions to award fund may be sent to: The Stephen Grand Local Faculty Fellow Alumni Award, c/o Civic Education Project, 1140 Chapel Street, Suite

New Haven, CT 06511.

Civic Education Project

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