For the first time since 1998, Fulbright Hungary hosted 20 Executive Directors from Commissions all over Europe (Greece and France sent their regrets). The group held its sessions in Central European University’s conference center (Nádor utca) over April 18-20.

With participants from the University of Arkansas and the State Department’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau, the event covered issues such as the EU’s General Directive on Privacy Rights (GDPR) with a guest speaker from a Brussels law firm, as well as recruiting and alumni development challenges in difficult budgetary times.

The US Embassy co-sponsored a reception for our Fulbright Hungary grantees, stakeholders and our guests, and we could not leave out a cruise on the Danube with Fulbright alumni and friends the next night.

The deliberations led to many specific offers to cooperate and to assist each other among Commissions in Europe. The next encounter will take place on May 24th in Washington, DC, when US Fulbright alumni, the US Fulbright Association and over 30 executive directors from around the world converge on Capitol Hill for “Fulbright Advocacy Day“.

The Ohio State University’s Office of International Affairs invited Károly Jókay to be the keynote speaker at their annual Fulbright Week Reception held in Columbus, March 29, 2018. Jókay spoke after remarks by OSU’s President Michael V. Drake and Assistant Vice Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies, Dr. Gifty Ako-Adounvo.

Jókay met with 20+ OSU faculty and student advisors, as well as 6 potential student applicants interested in applying for the 2019-20 academic year.

During those consultations, and in his speech, “Fulbright Programs at 72: Views from Central Europe”,” Jókay spoke on behalf of the Visegrád 4 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) as well as Romania and Bulgaria, emphasizing the region as an alternative grantee destination. For the address itself, see:

This March, between 16th and 27th the current exchange trip between Debreceni Ady Endre Gimnázium and Loudoun Valley High School was realised. The partnership between the two high schools started in 2010 when Kent Bailey and Erika Galambosné Hornyák were both Fulbright Teacher Exchange grantees and spent a fruitful school year in each other’s schools. So far, this was the ninth exchange trip of students and thus, about 250 students became part of the extended Fulbright family and experience.

Beyond the cultural experience of hosted by foreign families and going to a foreign school the Hungarian trip always has an extra educational purpose: taking part of the KarMUN – Karinthy Model United Nations Conference. This year’s theme was “Fighting inequality”. During the 3 days of the conference the students participate in debates and create UN resolutions while using diplomatic English and getting to know other fellow delegates of more than 20 international and Hungarian schools.

Gábor Stépán (’94 California Institute of Technology) received the prestigious Dennis Gabor Award in the Hungarian Parliament Building for his outstanding researches in the field of engineering. He is the 4th Fulbrighter to be awarded following Balázs Sarkadi (’00 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) in 2006; István Peták (’97 St. Jude Children Research Hospital, Memphis) in 2012 and András Dinnyés (’92 National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution) in 2013.

Zimányi-COST Winter School 2017 on Heavy Ion Physics in Budapest was organized and contributed by 5 Hungarian Fulbright alumni:

• Tamás Csörgő ’96 Columbia University
• Máté Csanád ’05 SUNY Stony Brook University & Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Róbert Vértesi ’06 Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Márton Nagy ’16 Stony Brook University
• Dániel Kincses ’18 Stony Brook University

7 Fulbright alumni:

• István Muzsnai (’87 Gallaudet College)
• György Könczei (’04 City University of New York)
• Kristóf Iván (’11 University of California, Berkeley)
• Rita Hoffmann (’11 University of California, Berkeley)
• Mária Flamich (’11 University of California, Berkeley)
• Beatrix Kotlán (’14 University of Texas – Houston)
• György Lévay (’15 Johns Hopkins University)

contributed to the 5th Hungarian Disability Studies Conference at the Eötvös Loránd University in the framework of the 14th Festival of Hungarian Science, sponsored by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This year the central theme is “Give a Chance for Science!”

Fulbright Hungary is sad to announce that Géza Kállay, a full professor at the Department of English Studies, School of English and American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, an authority on early modern English drama, primarily Shakespeare, died at his home in Budapest on Friday, Nov. 17, after a suspected heart attack. He was 58.

A sparkling essayist, Kállay wrote on philosophy and literature, the history of British drama; literary theory; (post)analytic philosophy and hermeneutics (Wittgenstein, Cavell, Ricoeur); Renaissance philosophy; East- and Central-European comparative literature.

One of his favourite course was the Drama and Theatre in order to span the gap between the point of view of the living theatre and the theoretical approach to dramatic works, the latter being typical of faculties of art.

Kállay received his M.A. in English Literature and Linguistics; in Hungarian Literature and Linguistics, and in General and Applied Linguistics from ELTE in 1984. He earned a Ph.D. at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium in 1996, but had already begun teaching at ELTE from 1984.

He was an alumni of the Fulbright Program first on a research scholarship to Harvard University AY 1994-1995 and later as a visiting Fulbright professor of literature and philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz AY 2004-2005.

He was a legendary teacher and mentor of graduate and doctoral students helping to shape a generation of scholarship and a network of friendship and camaraderie and was an indefatigable promoter of the cause of English Studies in Hungary and abroad, always ready to extend assistance, advice, and insight to all.

Kállay served as Head of the Doctoral Program in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature and Culture at ELTE from 2010 and was Head of the Doctoral School in Literary Studies and former Director of the School of English and American Studies, ELTE.

Kállay was born in Budapest. He is survived by her wife Katalin G. Kállay and daughters, Zsuzsanna, Eszter and Mária.

In the framework of International Education Week 2017 (IEW) – a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote the benefits of international education and exchange programs worldwide – the EducationUSA team in Budapest hosted the very first Counselor Training Academy workshop to high school teachers on Thursday, November 16th, 2017 and provided unique tips and resources on how to:

• use the Common Application;
• generate a good school profile to give context to U.S. admissions officers;
• create translation for high school trancripts and other documents;
• write effective recommendation letters.

On Tuesday, October 17th, 2017, the EducationUSA team in Budapest hosted an informational session for three visiting Ivy League universities: Dartmouth, Columbia, and Princeton. Admissions representatives from all three universities were invited to the EducationUSA center in Budapest to speak about their institutions, offer advice and tips for interested students, and answer questions.

In attendance at the event were approximately twenty highly motivated students from around Budapest, including groups from several high-achieving schools in the area. In addition to students, some teachers, counselors, and parents attended as well. While the event took place in Budapest, it was also live streamed to the three American corners around Hungary (Pécs, Debrecen, and Veszprém), giving students in those areas access to the event as well. Each American Corner had approximately a dozen students in attendance, bringing the total attendance for the event to around fifty.

The admissions representatives began by each providing a short overview of their respective universities. To give studens a clearer picture of each university, they discussed the college culture, philosophy, academics, campus life, traditions, setting, and more. Then, all together, the presenters discussed concerns and questions common to all three institutions, such as application materials, timeline, financial aid, and the admissions process for international students. At the end, there was time for questions. Students from all four locations had questions, ranging from advice on essay topics to queries on how international students are assessed for admission compared to Americans. After the presentation, there was time for students to ask questions and network with the representatives individually.

This event marked many firsts for EducationUSA in Hungary. It was the first time three Ivy League universities came to visit at one time. It was also the first time that such an event was live streamed to the various American Corners, broadening the audience who could benefit from it. Feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive. The event was a resounding success, and EducationUSA looks forward to hosting more such events in the future.

Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Robin Cathey ’16 and six of her Roma students at the Wlislocki Henrik Residential College created and published a booklet called Speak Lovari Style!.

“This inclusive organization operates as a response to “elite” exclusionary societies by supporting Roma, Gipsy, and disadvantaged students through academic tutoring, professional training programs, and events which serve to strengthen their ethnic identities. Students study their disciplines and subjects of interest in their respective departments while receiving the support from the WHSz community. Some of the students are native speakers of the Romani dialect called Lovari–others are learning it as a second language. The book you hold in your hands is the result of a collaboration of these six students who hope to introduce young English speakers to the Lovari dialect, as well as some aspects of Roma life.”

Fulbright Hungary is proud of its Roma English Teaching Assistant projects:

• Cookbook Roma Style!
• Roma Folk Tales
• Think Roma Style!

and hopes to expand and continue collaboration with the Roma Residential Colleges and other foundations throughout Hungary in upcoming academic years.

To view the booklet, see issuu.com/fulbrighthungary/docs/speak_lovari_style

Listen to the audio pronunciation of the Lovari texts at www.fulbright.hu/doc/Speak_Lovari_Style.m4a

To download the booklet, see www.fulbright.hu/doc/Speak_Lovari_Style.pdf