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

Between June 11-17, 2017 the Commission organized a U.S. Study Abroad Capacity Building tour for 12 representatives of U.S. universities.

Day 1

A Workshop on Hungarian higher education was hosted by Prof. József Temesi (’94 University of New Hampshire). The activities of the Fulbright Commission and the Fulbright EducationUSA Advising Center were presented by Dr. Károly Jókay, Executive Director and Ms. Kornélia Litkei, Senior Adviser. U.S. Study Abroad Capacity Building tour participants visited Eötvös Loránd University and met representatives of CIEE – Council on International Educational Exchange and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Day 2

The 12 representatives of US universities met Director István Antal, Jesuit Roma College; Mária Bogdán (’08 Columbia University), Board member, Romaversitas Foundation and Prof. László Rosivall (’91 Tulane U. & ’04 U.Alabama), Program Director, Roma Medical Education Program at the Semmelweis University.

The group visited the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics hosted by Dean Kristóf Iván (’11 UC Berkeley) and a workshop was organized on internationalization of Hungarian higher education with representatives of the University of Szeged (Dr. Dénes Mátyás (’15 Cleveland State University)); University of Pécs (Dr. Gyöngyi Pozsgai, Centre for International Relations) and Corvinus University of Budapest (Dr. Tamás Pesuth, Director of International Relations)

Day 3

Capacity Building tour participants visited the University of Debrecen by bus and participated in a workshop on the university’s international programs, policy and met with representative of University of Miskolc

Day 4

University visits at the University of Fine Arts and meeting representatives of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. The group also visited the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music hosted by Beáta Furka, Head of Int’l Office.

Day 5

Visit to BSM: Budapest Semesters in Mathematics, workshop on Mathematics education in Hungary (Dr. Dezső Miklós, Director; Ms. Réka Szász, BSME Hungarian Director, Dr. Ryota Matsuura, BSME American Director)

Visit to AIT: Aquincum Institute of Technology, Budapest, workshop on mission, concept and practice (Gábor Bojár, Entrepreneur and Founder; Dr. András Recski, Academic Director)

Fulbright Hungary celebrated its 25th Anniversary on May 19, 2017 with a cruise on the Danube that had a record number of Fulbrighters and guests, 226 in total.

Chargé d’affaires David Kostelancik of the US Embassy greeted the Fulbrighters with his statement of admiration and support.

The government of Hungary was represented by Deputy State Secretary Orsolya Pacsay-Tomassich of the Ministry of Human Capacities. Ms. Pacsay-Tomassich announced that Hungary will increase financial support to Fulbright by 15 million forints ($55,000) or by 30% to 65 million forints ($235,000) in 2017. In addition, the Ministry offered to provide Fulbright with new office space, as well as set up a mentoring program, the details of which are to be announced.

The cruise was about meeting old friends and colleagues. Present were former Fulbright employees and Board members, and many many Hungarian and American alumni. We showed four new Fulbright videos on the boat for the first time:

• Who is a great Fulbright applicant?

• The Fulbright Experience

as well as a retrospective slide show. We made sure to invite grantees and other important players from the pre-Commission days as well.

As usual, we said goodbye to our current US grantees and farewell to our Hungarian grantees embarking on their Fulbright adventure in AY 2017-18.

For more pictures of the festivities (by photographer Marianne Sárközy), see here.