On March 15, 2013 Hungary celebrated the 165th Anniversary of the Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1848. At the Embassy Ambassador Szapáry hosted a reception and invited members of the Administration, the Diplomatic Corp and of course the Hungarian-American community.

Mr. Károly Jókay, director of Fulbright Hungary talked about the success of the Fulbright program and recognized lot of Fulbright Alumni in the audience. He emphasized the added value of the program on both sides of the Atlantic.

“I’m happy to tell you that I have a daughter who is now a doctor who was a Fulbrighter. And she went to the London School of Economics and studied public health. And now she is working on global health issues and just came back from Uganda a week ago with another person who’s here. […] I cannot tell you how many leaders I’ve met – prime ministers, finance ministers, foreign ministers, presidents and others – who once upon a time either were Fulbrighters or went to school in the United States and have affection and a connection as a consequence of that, and vice versa.” – Secretary of State John Kerry in his remarks at the Fulbright Foreign Student Enrichment Seminar in Washington D.C.
Tamás Tófalvy and Júlia Richter (both ’12 Columbia University) were among the students from 70 countries in the audience.

The second-ever Atlanta enrichment seminar focused on the American Civil Rights Movement and the remaining challenges to equality and freedom of opportunity in the U.S. Tímea Oláh (’12 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) had a unique opportunity to hear the iconic Lonnie C. King speak, a leading figure of the 60’s civil rights student protests in Atlanta still active in the movement.

Richard Griffin (’10 University of Debrecen) and John Jablonski (’02 University of Debrecen) were members of a delegation of 7 scholars from Ferris State University visiting the Commission. Director Emeritus Huba Bruckner was also present.

On Thursday, March 7, Katalin Nagy (’02 Cornell Medical College, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Szeged; President of the Fulbright Alumni Association and the South-Hungarian Fulbright Chapter hosted the Fulbright Roadshow led by Károly Jókay, Executive Director of the Hungarian Fulbright Commission.
Professor József Pál, Vice Rector for Foreign Affairs gave the welcome speech on behalf of the University. Director Jókay was explaining the opportunities and requirements of the Fulbright Fellowship. Following the presentation, former Fulbrighters (heads of departments and faculties) were invited to join the Fulbright group at a luncheon hosted by Professor Nagy at a traditional restaurant by the Tisza river, where Dr. Jókay toasted the group and everyone enjoyed the bowls of the famous Szegedi halászlé, túrós csusza and wines. Professor Michele Shedlin (’12 University of Szeged from NYU) spoke for the group in a toast of thanks to Dean Nagy for arranging such a successful day and fine luncheon.

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program participant Kent Bailey (’10 Ady Endre High School, Debrecen) and a group of 15 students from Loudon High was hosted in Hungary by Erika Hornyák (’10 Loudon Valley High School, Purcellville, VA) following a similar visit of a group of students from Debrecen in Spring 2012.

Emese Maróti (’11 University of Arkansas) participated in the Legacy of Senator Fulbright Forum on International Study, Research and Teaching Opportunities organized by the Fulbright Scholars at University of Arkansas.

New e-book in Hungarian: In Florida with Fulbright by Attila Csontos (’99 University of Florida). Preview of the e-book in English.

A delegation of 37 Fulbrighters, their families and Commission staff were hosted by MP János Horváth, doyen of the Hungarian Parliament, on Friday, March 1, 2013. The Fulbrighters included students, scholars and high school teachers. Nicholas Pinter, a US Fulbright alum (’99 Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest), and his team of 7 Phd students joined the delegation.

After a guided tour of the Parliament building, including visiting the Holy Crown, the Fulbrighters held a briefing for several important MPs invited by MP Horváth, a US Fulbright alumnus himself (’58 University of the Philippines). State Secretary Zsolt Németh (Foreign Ministry), former EU Commissioner and former Foreign Minister MP László Kovács, and MP István Józsa greeted the delegation, then engaged in an active Q & A session chaired by Fulbright Executive Director Károly Jókay. We were honored to also have been joined by Jenő Megyesy, special advisor to the Prime Minister, and György Such, former Humphrey Fellow (’99 University of Missouri, Columbia) and currently General Administrative Director of the Parliament. Fulbright Board member Gabriella Kereszty was also in attendance.

In the afternoon Nicholas Pinter met separately State Secretary for Environment Zoltán Illés, a Humphrey Program alumnus (’95 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) at the Ministry of Rural Development.