Professor of Art and Design History at Northern Illinois University, School of Art and Design Rebecca Houze (’03 Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) recent book ‘Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary Before the First World War‘ was based on her Fulbright Austria-Hungary Joint Research Award.

As Rebecca wrote:
“Without the stipend I know that I would never have been able to undertake or complete the book. The award provided not only valuable research time, but also, just as significantly, a true opportunity for cross-cultural exchange. I treasure the life-long professional colleagues and friends I made in Budapest while working on this project, which I know is much richer as a result of those friendships.”

Filling a critical gap in Vienna 1900 studies, this book offers a new reading of fin-de-siècle culture in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy by looking at the unusual and widespread preoccupation with embroidery, fabrics, clothing, and fashion – both literally and metaphorically. The author resurrects lesser known critics, practitioners, and curators from obscurity, while also discussing the textile interests of better known figures, notably Gottfried Semper and Alois Riegl. Spanning the 50-year life of the Dual Monarchy, this study uncovers new territory in the history of art history, insists on the crucial place of women within modernism, and broadens the cultural history of Habsburg Central Europe by revealing the complex relationships among art history, women, and Austria-Hungary. Rebecca Houze surveys a wide range of materials, from craft and folk art to industrial design, and includes overlooked sources-from fashion magazines to World’s Fair maps, from exhibition catalogues to museum lectures, from feminist journals to ethnographic collections. Restoring women to their place at the intersection of intellectual and artistic debates of the time, this book weaves together discourses of the academic, scientific, and commercial design communities with middle-class life as expressed through popular culture.

Fulbright Executive Director and CEU School of Public Policy Visiting Professor Károly Jókay was joined by two Fulbrighters, alumna Mária Bogdán (’08 Columbia University) SPP doctoral student, Chair of the Board, Romaversitas Foundation and MA student, 2016-17 grantee Katalin Németh (Penn State and Montana), as well as by Rachel McVey, Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) based at the Jesuit Roma College. Rachel is one of Fulbright Hungary’s two “Rometas,” English Teaching Assistants specializing in Roma college students. Susan Liaw, the other Rometa, is based in Debrecen and works with the Wáli István College, the American Corner as well as the University of Debrecen.

The team briefed about 30 RGPP and Language Acquistion students on Fulbright programs in general in Central/Eastern Europe, then offered specific information for Hungarian students interested in applying for the 2017-18 academic year. Rachel pointed out the resources available in Budapest at the Fulbright EducationUSA Advising Center, a facility that has counterparts in most of the countries represented by RGPP students.

Fulbright has returned to CEU’s RGPP for the third time, and Katalin Nemeth, on her way to Penn State, indicated that she had first heard of the program at one of those briefings.

We encourage many to follow her example.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, represented by its President, Professor László Lovász, and the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission, represented by Board Chair Professor Beáta Vértessy and Károly Jókay, Executive Director, signed a multi-year agreement on March 23, 2016, in the the ornate concert hall in the Academy’s main building. Fulbright Board members Tamás Magyarics, Tibor Frank and Eric Watnik (representing the US Embassy) also took part in the ceremony.

The agreement will support Hungarian scholars who are employees of the Academy’s research network, on various “Momentum” (Lendület) teams, or are active in Academy-funded projects at Hungary’s universities. During the upcoming academic year 2016-17, two Hungarian researchers will be in the US on jointly-funded Fulbrights: one geophysicist and one astrophysicist. US scholars will also be eligible for the joint grants, and in 2016-17, one US sociologist will arrive in Budapest.

The Academy and Fulbright expect that up to 4 additional scholars per year will be able to conduct research in the US and in Hungary based on the terms of the agreement just signed.

For US scholars interested in applying for the 2017-18 Academic Year, see the CIES catalog of awards at:
catalog.cies.org

Hungarian researchers affiliated with the Academy please see:
www.fulbright.hu/fulbright-mta-kozos-osztondij

For further information contact the Fulbright Commission in Budapest at: info@fulbright.hu

Congrats Erika Galambosné Hornyák (’10 Fulbright Teacher Exchange Programs) for organizing the 6th consecutive Loudoun Valley High School, Purcellville VA – Ady Endre High School, Debrecen student exchange!

The Embassy of the United States, Budapest, in cooperation with the U.S. Commercial Service and EducationUSA invites you to attend our

American University Fair

This is a unique opportunity to meet representatives from 15 different U.S. colleges and universities. EducationUSA will also be there to answer your questions and offer you additional information on studying in the U.S.A.

When: Friday, April 22nd, 15 – 19h

Where: Harmónia Palota Konferencia Terem

             1088 Budapest, Múzeum utca. 9

Entrance is FREE! Just register under the following link to guarantee your attendance:

www.eventbrite.com/e/american-university-fair-registration

The following schools will be represented at the fair:

• Central Penn College
• College for Creative Studies
• Emporia State University
• Foothill + De Anza Colleges
• Hawaii Pacific University
• Highline College
• Marian University
• Norwich University
• University of Georgia School of Law
• University of Delaware English Language Institute
• University of Arizona
• Virginia Tech
• Webster University
• West Virginia University
• West Valley College

In case of any specific questions, please contact us under: office.budapest@trade.gov

We look forward to seeing you at the fair!

The Commission organized a visit to Kecskemét for U.S. Fulbright grantees on March 4, 2016. The group visited the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and the International Ceramics Studio following a sightseeing tour of Kecskemét.

Veronika Kusz (’05 Florida State Univiversity) received the Youth Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for her research on Ernő Dohnányi’s American period.

Elizabeth Walsh (’15 Pázmány Péter Catholic University) participated in the EU-NATO Seminar hosted by the Fulbright Commission in Belgium and Luxembourg on February 16-20, 2016 among 43 other US Fulbrighters.

Free Trade, Local Public Interest and Economic Integration: Comparative Perspectives of ‘Federal Markets’: lecture by Csongor István Nagy (’15 Indiana University‬)