ORGANIZATIONS

Austrian-American Organizations

Ellis Island Ferry, circa 1915 - 1920

Austrian-American Organizations

As a result of the 2018 BIAAS-sponsored Summit on Austrian-American Organizations, BIAAS created a resource to help facilitate the exchange of information. Click + to connect with the organizations.

Austrian-American Educational Commission/Fulbright Austria

Quartier21/Museumsquartier
Museumsplatz 1
A-1070 Wien, Austria

www.fulbright.at

Mission and History

The Austrian-American Educational Commission (AAEC) is a special binational commission based on the Fulbright Act of 1946 and established by a bilateral agreement between the US government and the Republic of Austria in 1950. It currently operates under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (1963-present), which provides for binational financing and governance of the Austrian-American Fulbright Program.

Fulbright Austria promotes mutual understanding, cooperation, and knowledge transfer between Austria and the United States by sponsoring educational and cultural exchange programs serving individuals and institutions. It fulfills this mission by managing the prestigious Fulbright scholarship program; coordinating a nationwide teaching assistantship program unilaterally funded by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) that places US college graduates in Austrian secondary schools; and counseling students and institutions of higher education on opportunities to study in the US or Austria as an EducationUSA advising center.

With over 380,000 alumni, the Fulbright Program was the largest exchange program in the world until the inception of the European Union Erasmus Program in the 1980s, and the Austrian-American Program is the largest bilateral exchange program between the two countries. More than 2,500 US citizens and 3,500 Austrian citizens have participated in exchanges under the auspices of the Fulbright Program since 1950. Furthermore, over 3,000 US college and university graduates have taught at Austrian secondary school in communities large and small in all nine Austrian provinces since the inception of the US Teaching Assistant Program in 1962.

For a brief history of the Fulbright Program, consult “Fulbright at Fifty” or view the documentary video “Fulbright at Sixty” on the Fulbright website.

Programs and Activities

Grant Category 2017-18 2018-19
Austrian Fulbright Foreign-Language Teaching Assistants at US colleges and universities 14 12
Austrian Fulbright Students enrolled in graduate programs at US institutions 10 14
Austrian Fulbright Scholars 4 6
US Fulbright Students enrolled at Austrian universities 18 21
US Fulbright Scholars (representing the fifth-largest US Fulbright Scholar cohort in the world) 22 22
Fulbright Specialists (two- to six-week stays) 5 5
Total Fulbright grantees 75 75
US teaching assistants at Austrian secondary schools (record highs) 133 144

Fulbright Austria also serves as an educational advising center for Austrians interested in studying in the United States and Americans interested in studying in Austria.

Austrian Association for American Studies

Department of English and American Studies
University of Salzburg
Erzabt-Klotz-Strasse 1 (Unipark)
A-5020 Salzburg, Austria
ZVR-Number: 371718632

Current president contact info:
Dr. Christian Quendler
Universität Innsbruck
Institut für Amerikastudien
Innrain 52d
A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
christian.quendler@uibk.ac.at

www.aaas.at

Mission and History

When the Austrian Association for American Studies was founded in 1975, its articles declared a four-fold purpose:

a) to stimulate the establishment, extension, and intensification of American Studies at Austrian universities and other academic institutions;
b) to promote the research activities and plans of Austrian scholars in the field of American Studies;
c) to allow for the exchange of ideas and information in the field of American Studies;
d) to establish contacts with organizations of the same kind in Europe, America, and elsewhere.

The Austrian Association for American Studies (AAAS) is an academic non-profit organization that currently has more than 100 active members. They represent the Association at practically all Austrian universities and academic institutions with departments focusing on American Studies. The AAAS also has a sizable number of international members. The AAAS is a member association of the European Association for American Studies (EAAS).

Programs and Activities

The AAAS organizes an annual international conference with a thematic focus at an Austrian university. In addition, and in collaboration with other organizations and institutions such as Fulbright Austria, the AAAS supports promising projects and young researchers through grants and scholarly awards. The AAAS has supported a book series (monographs and edited collections) for the last two decades (American Studies in Austria at LIT Verlag) and is currently in the process of inaugurating a peer-reviewed open access online journal JAAAS (Journal of the Austrian Association of American Studies).

The research of most AAAS members comes from literary and cultural studies, but the association also has members coming from disciplines such as history, political science, or film studies. AAAS members study a wide variety of subjects, and rely on a broad range of (inter)disciplinary approaches and methodologies, which the association does not circumscribe in any way. The conference topics of the last years give a rough idea of recent thematic interests of AAAS members: “American Im/Mobilities” (2018), “The Changing Nature of American Studies” (2017) “America Through the Small Screen” (2016), “Soundscapes as Sonic Cultures” (2015), “American Identity, Urbanity, and Cultural Exchange” (2014), or “American Utopias” (2013).

Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY)

11 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022
(212) 319-5300
new-york-kf@bmeia.gv.at

www.acfny.org

Mission and History

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York is the main cultural embassy of the Republic of Austria in New York and the United States. We are dedicated to showcasing Austrian art, music, film, theater, and literature, presenting “as much from our cultural past as necessary and as much contemporary art as possible”.

The ACFNY’s predecessor institution, the Austrian Institute, was established by Austrian emigres and exiles in 1942 in order to maintain an active cultural life and bond with a home that no longer existed. In 1955, Austria’s Ministry of Education tasked Wilhelm Schlag to set up an official Austrian cultural institute in the USA which moved to its present-day location in Midtown Manhattan in 1963. In the 1990s, the institute had outgrown its small townhouse on 52nd Street, which was replaced by a modern skyscraper designed by Raimund Abraham and which was opened in 2002.

Our main mission is to present contemporary Austrian culture and artists to an American audience, but the Austrian Cultural Forum New York also serves as a meeting place for Austrians and friends of Austria alike and for everyone who is interested in Austrian culture.
We want to foster Austrian-American relations and present a platform for artists & intellectuals to network and perform in front of an international audience.

An important task is to look into Austria’s complex history and past, and to address global issues of interest and concern with artistic means.

Programs and Activities

With its architectural landmark building the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is dedicated to innovative and cutting-edge programming, showcasing the best of Austrian contemporary art, music, literature, performance, and academic thought in New York and throughout the United States. In addition to presenting three group exhibitions per year in its multi-level gallery space, the ACFNY hosts around 10,000 volumes of Austriaca in its Frederic Morton Library, and presents around 100 free events per year in its own auditorium. The ACFNY also supports around 100 external projects with partners across the nation.

Our exhibitions are typically externally curated and address social, political, and cultural issues of interest. Our current transmedial show Women.Now, for example, offers a powerful commentary on women’s role in society and the arts today, showcasing seventeen contemporary female artists based in Austria and the United States.

Our concerts tend to focus on contemporary and new music, but we also feature other genres. All of our events are free and not-for-profit, with the overall objective to introduce emerging Austrian artists to an U.S. audience.

Austrian Cultural Forum Washington

3524 International Court, NW
Washington, DC, 20008
(202) 895-6700
culture@austria.org

www.acfdc.org

Mission and History

The ACFDC serves as a focal point to promote Austrian culture and art in the Washington DC metro area. By organizing a variety of cultural events (concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, theatre performances, lectures and panel discussions) throughout the year, we aim at encouraging cultural exchange between Austrian and American artists and its audiences.

Austria’s international network of representations active in the field of culture currently comprises:

  • 29 Cultural Institutes (“Cultural Fora”)
  • 2 Development Cooperation Offices
  • 80 Embassies
  • 8 General Consulates
  • 300 Honorary Consulates

The 29 Austrian Cultural Fora are located in the following cities: Beijing, Belgrade, Berlin, Bern, Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Cairo, Istanbul, Kiev, Ljubljana, London, Madrid, Milan, Mexico City, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Rome, Teheran, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Warsaw, Washington and Zagreb.

Programs and Activities

The ACF Washington is at the same time the Cultural Section of the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC and offers free admission to all of its events open to the public. It organizes, supports, initiates and facilitates about 40 events per year, many of which take place in the atrium hall of the Embassy of Austria.

In particular, the ACF Washington works on three pillars:

  • Promotion of women in art and culture
  • Correlation between culture and human rights
  • Presentation of young emerging Austrian artists

We do this through:

  • Presenting contemporary artistic, cultural and scientific achievements from or about Austria in a broad range of discipline
  • Providing a platform for presentations of emerging young artists who have their life and career centered in Austria, in particular on our social media channels
  • Creating interfaces and promoting interaction between Austrian, European and American cultural institutions and artists
  • Acting as a forum for dialogue and discourse on relevant issues in culture and politics

International cultural policy is an essential and invaluable instrument of Austrian foreign policy, constituting a driving force that promotes Austria’s international cultural presence in an increasingly interlinked world. Our goal is to present a unique image of a contemporary, innovative and creative Austria, which is promoted and consolidated by means of high-quality cultural projects initiated and carried out by Austria’s network of representations abroad. International cultural policy thus plays a pivotal and valuable role in presenting a modern image of Austria in the world.

Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation

Marshallplan Jubiläumsstiftung
Walcherstraße 11A
1020 Wien, Austria
+43 1 501 75 597
office@marshallplan.at

www.marshallplan.at

Mission and History

The Foundation benefits and supports the co-operation between Austrian and American universities and academics. The Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation is an endowment established according to Federal legislation for foundations and funds. The Foundation was initiated with a financial allocation from the ERP Fund to the sum of 30 million schillings in 1999.

Programs and Activities

The support is carried out in the framework of:

  • Endowed Professorships
  • Fellowships
  • Public lectures & Discussions
  • Publications

Main Topics:

  • Internet of things/Industry 4.0
  • Transatlantic relations
  • Legacy of the Marshall Plan

Three Professorships:

  • New Orleans – History, with a focus on the legacy of the Marshall Plan
  • Johns Hopkins, Washington – International Relations
  • Forthcoming: TU Wien – Smart Manufacturing

Three Fellowship Programs (~ 110 Fellows p.a):

  • The Marshall Plan Scholarship (Technology & Science)
  • The UC Berkeley Program (Social- and Economic sciences)
  • The Johns Hopkins Program (International Relations)

Track record (as of 31.12.2017):

  • 687 Marshall Plan Scholarships
  • 90 Berkeley Program Fellows
  • 15 Professorships in New Orleans
  • 22 Johns Hopkins Fellows
The Austrian Studies Association

Mission and History

The Austrian Studies Association (formerly the Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association, MALCA) continues traditions started in 1961, as the only North American association devoted to scholarship on all aspects of Austrian, Austro-Hungarian, and Habsburg territory cultural life and history from the eighteenth century until today.

The Association publishes a quarterly scholarly journal, the Journal of Austrian Studies; the Association holds an annual spring conference, organized around a year’s theme. Its other activities include organizing scholarly panels for the annual conventions of the Modern Language Association and at other national and international conferences. Current news and resources of interest are included on this website and distributed through its list-serv and on its Facebook page.

Anyone interested in modern Austrian studies, broadly defined, is encouraged to become a member and support the Association’s work.

The ASA originated in a referendum held in early 2011, when the Association’s membership voted to change the Association’s name and to retitle its journal as the Journal of Austrian Studies. These changes acknowledge what has long been the Association’s identity: an interdisciplinary organization that welcomes all eras and disciplines of Austrian studies at its conferences and in its journal, including scholarship on the cultures of Austria’s earlier political forms (the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and Austria-Hungary) and scholarship that acknowledges this region’s historical multiethnic, multilingual, and transcultural identities and their legacies in the present.

The Austrian Studies Association, which joined the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in 2017, has about 450 members, who work in fields such as literature, history, political studies, and philosophy.

Programs And Activities

The Austrian Studies Association publishes the quarterly Journal of Austrian Studies (University of Nebraska Press). As an affiliated organization of the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Austrian Studies Association organizes panels at the annual MLA convention. In addition, ASA also organizes an annual conference that usually takes place in North America. The 2016 conference was held at the University of Vienna and the 2020 conference will take place at the University of Poznan in Poland.

Every conference focuses on a certain theme. Last year’s conference, which was organized by the University of Illinois at Chicago, addressed “Inter-Texts: Correspondences, Connections, and Fissures in Austrian Culture,” while this year’s conference at the University of Vermont looked at “Austria and the East.” Next year’s conference at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will discuss “Austria in Europe: Migration, Immigration, Integration: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives.”

Austrian Studies Program, UC Berkeley

Austrian Studies Program
Institute of European Studies
University of California, Berkeley
207 Moses Hall, #2316
Berkeley, CA 94720
ies@berkeley.edu

Professor Jeroen Dewulf (Program Director)
Professor David Clay Large (Associate Director)
Dr. Julia Nelsen (Program Manager)

https://ies.berkeley.edu/austrian

www.marshallplan.at

Mission and History

The Austrian Studies Program at UC Berkeley was founded in 2017 with the support of the Austrian Marshall Foundation and the Austrian Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, und Forschung. It is an integral part of the Institute of European Studies (IES), home to the leading concentration of researchers and scholars on European affairs and the European Union in the Western United States.

Since the second half of the 20th century, UC Berkeley has been a recognized leader in Austrian Studies, especially in the areas of language and literature, art history, and political and cultural history. In literary studies, Heinz Politzer was America’s leading expert in Kafka scholarship; Peter Selz, who founded the Berkeley Art Museum, was a much-celebrated authority on Central European Art of the 20th century; while historical scholars from Charles Gulick through Carl Schorske and William Slottman to John Connelly have made Berkeley the place in the United States to study the history of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Austrian republics.

In the realm of historical scholarship and teaching, Berkeley’s Austrian Studies Program emphasizes today the significant role that the multi-national Habsburg Monarchy played in Europe, along with the meaning that this legacy of transnational governance carried – and might continue to carry – for the wider world. The current Austrian Second Republic is studied within the broader framework of regional politics as well as within the European Union. Our program also fosters the exchange of graduate students and faculty with Austrian universities.

Programs And Activities

The Austrian Studies Program has organized a series of lectures and events focused on enriching knowledge of Austrian topics at UC Berkeley and in the wider Bay Area community. In April 2018, IES organized its inaugural Austrian Studies conference on the topic of “Authoritarianism and Democracy.” The three-day conference involved 21 scholars from Austria and the United States, bridging literary, historical, economic and technological perspectives. Barry Eichengreen (Economics and Political Science, UC Berkeley) delivered the keynote address on the legacy of the Marshall Plan in Austria and Europe. The conference concluded with a roundtable discussion chaired by Wolfgang Petritsch (President of the Austrian Marshall Foundation) and Oliver Rathkolb (Univ. Vienna) on the development of new political, cultural and economic framework conditions for the stabilization of Western parliamentary democracies.

Botstiber Institute For Austrian-American Studies

Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies
200 E. State Street Suite 306-A
Media, PA 19063
610-566-3375
biaas@botstiber.org 

www.botstiberbiaas.org

Mission and History

Dietrich W. Botstiber lived through the difficult social and economic conditions in Austria from the 1918 breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire to the 1938 Anschluss. He left Austria for the United States in 1938. After finding success as an engineer and entrepreneur, Botstiber created the Botstiber Foundation in 1995, which sponsors several distinct programs. In 2008, the foundation formed the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (BIAAS) specifically to “promote an understanding of the historic relationship between the United States and Austria,” including lands of the former Habsburg empire. The Institute accomplishes this goal by awarding grants and fellowships, organizing lectures and conferences, and publishing the Journal of Austrian-American History. BIAAS also engages with a broader public audience through digital programming, including short videos, podcasts, and blog posts.

Programs And Activities

BIAAS’s activities fall into four main strategic categories: grants & fellowships, events, publications, and digital programming. BIAAS’s grant and fellowship program has been in existence for ten years, funding academic research that supports our mission as well as public programming. To date, the institute has supported over 130 grantees and fellows. BIAAS has long sponsored an annual Botstiber lecture, often held in the spring at the Austrian Embassy. More recently, BIAAS has partnered with other institutions to host conferences on specific topics, including a conference on Transatlantic and Central European Migration at Central European University in 2018 and an upcoming conference on Cultural Propaganda in the 20th Century in March 2019 with the Triangle Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

BIAAS’s entry into publications and digital programming began just in the last 2-3 years. The Journal of Austrian-American History launched in 2017 with Penn State University Press, publishing original research, as well as primary sources and translated articles. It is available open access via JSTOR. In 2018, BIAAS launched new digital programs on its website, including podcasts, videos, and the Austro-Americana Blog.

Center Austria: The Austrian Marshall Plan Center For European Studies

Center Austria
International Center 118
University of New Orleans
2000 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148
504-280-3223
centeraustria@uno.edu

www.centeraustria.org

www.marshallplan.at

Mission and History

The Mission of Center Austria is to oversee international student and faculty mobility between the University of New Orleans (UNO) and the University of Innsbruck and other Austrian universities. Center Austria promotes to communication and extension of Austrian and Central European culture through scholarly and artistic activities and academic partnerships. UNO has enjoyed more than 40 years of cooperation with the University of Innsbruck and a Sister-City-Agreement between the cities of Innsbruck and New Orleans, as well as a partnership agreement with the University of Graz. The center operates as a research and discourse hub for Austrian and European Studies and serves New Orleans and the Gulf South region. Our main audience is the UNO university community and the German community of New Orleans.

Center Austria opened its doors in the Metropolitan College of UNO in the fall of 1997. Gordon “Nick” Mueller was its founding director, succeeded by Guenter Bischof. Bischof and Gertraud Griessner, the project coordinator, have been with the Center since the beginning. Originally UNO‘s Academic Year Abroad program in Innsbruck started in Center Austria.

Center Austria came into being because UNO and the University of Innsbruck have sponsored student and faculty exchanges, annual symposia, and the publication Contemporary Austrian Studies (CAS). In 1976, the UNO International Summer School first opened in Innsbruck; in 1983, a partnership treaty was signed between the Universities of New Orleans and Innsbruck.

The founding of Center Austria helped the growth of activities between the two universities. “International student mobility” was not a catchword on the UI side in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Austria began participating in EU student mobility programs.

Center Austria instituted regular “business meetings” to watch over the UNO-UI partnership agenda. Historian Franz Mathis, geographer Klaus Franz, and historian Christina Antenhofer served as UI coordinators for UNO for many years; now linguist Gerhard Rampl is the Rector’s coordinator.

In 1995, the cities of Innsbruck and New Orleans signed a Sister-City-agreement. Center Austria organized a regular art exchange with the Cultural Office of the City of Innsbruck — Innsbruck artists have exhibited at UNO, and since 2000 UNO art students have exhibited in Innsbruck’s Andechs Gallery.

Center Austria also has built a strong institutional relationship with the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation in Vienna ever since the Foundation made a monetary gift for a visiting professor to UNO in 2000. Since then, 15 MP Chairs have been appointed. Given the Foundation’s strong support of Center Austria, when the Center moved to the new International Center in January 2015, it was renamed “Center Austria: The Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies.”

The Austrian government has also generously supported Center Austria. The Cultural Department of the Ministry of Europe, Integration, and Foreign Affairs used to support the publication of Contemporary Austrian Studies, while the Ministry of Science, Research and Economy has been financing a visiting research fellow at the Center since 2002. In addition, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Research has sponsored annual conferences at all the Austrian Centers to improve networking between them and their research activities; it also is supporting programming at Center Austria.

Programs And Activities

The main programs of our organization are regular student and faculty exchanges with the University of Innsbruck (and Graz). We organize regular symposia since 1983 and publish the proceedings. In 1994, we began publishing the annual publication Contemporary Austrian Studies (CAS) with the University of Innsbruck. An Environmental History of Austria, volume 27 in this series, will appear in November 2018. CAS is published jointly by UNO Press and Innsbruck university press. We also publish the series TRANSATLANTICA with the StudienVerlag in Innsbruck (11 volumes have appeared so far), and the Series “Studies in Central European History, Culture and Literature” with UNO Press (3 volumes have been published until now). The most recent trend in our organization is increasing cooperation with the new location of Deutsches Haus of New Orleans. We are planning regular lecture series with them as well as German courses for children and adults.

Center For Austrian Studies

314 Social Sciences Building
267 19th Ave. S.,
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-624-8911
casahy@umn.edu

Howard Louthan, Director
612-624-3886
hlouthan@umn.edu

Jennifer Hammer, Program Coordinator
612-624-6527
jhammer@umn.edu

https://cla.umn.edu/austrian

Mission and History

The Center for Austrian Studies (CAS) is an interdisciplinary research center with a mission to support the study of Central Europe across the disciplines. Established in 1977, CAS is the Western Hemisphere’s oldest and best-known research center focusing on the past, present, and future of Austria and the successor states of the Habsburg Empire. In 1976, the Austrian government decided to use the American Bicentennial as an occasion to thank the United States for its political and economic support after 1945 by giving $1 million to an American university for the purpose of promoting Austrian studies in the United States. After a nationwide competition, the University of Minnesota was chosen over fifteen other universities for several reasons: its existing faculty strength in Central and Eastern Europe, its location in the American heartland among a population with substantial German-speaking ancestry, and its status as a first-rate public university, which made it a natural partner for the public universities of Austria. Over the past four decades, the Center has served as an international leader in promoting new scholarship about Austria and Central Europe across disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, the fine arts, and international business management. The Center connects scholars, students, and an international community to resources in Austria, Central Europe, the EU, and Minnesota. Through a variety of community events and lectures, it reaches out to students, scholars, and an international community of educated non-academics, bringing an awareness of Austria and the new Europe and its relevance to American life. It enriches the teaching mission of the University and the College of Liberal Arts by connecting its research and outreach programs with classroom opportunities for students. CAS has cultivated exchange programs and formal ties with Austrian universities and, since 1992, has hosted an Austrian graduate student through Austrian Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW) Doctoral Research Fellowship. The Center also sponsors a range of prizes, including one for the National History Day competition, a dissertation prize, a book prize, and the R. John Rath Prize for the best article published in the Austrian History Yearbook.

Programs And Activities

Since its inception, the Center for Austrian Studies has offered a regular series of presentations by scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. CAS events range from descriptions of academic works-in-progress to presentations about more general subjects including reports of current events in Austria and Central Europe. The lectures are free and open to students, staff, and the public. The Robert A. Kann Memorial Lecture is our most prestigious lecture, delivered by a renowned scholar. This year, Larry Wolff spoke about “Operatic Representations of Habsburg Ideology: Ottoman Themes and Viennese Variations.” In addition to these lectures, CAS reaches out to the larger Twin Cities community by supporting a range of events—from concerts to film screenings—that appeal to a general audience.

As part of its mission to foster scholarly collaboration and engage with broader communities and audiences, CAS sponsors a range of publications, including Austrian History Yearbook, the only English-language journal dedicated to the history of territories formerly under Habsburg rule; the Austrian Studies Newsmagazine; and an active book series with Berghahn Press, which just published its 22nd volume. The Center is also launching a new online journal dedicated to undergraduate research, Central Europe: An Undergraduate Journal.

This journal is one of the Center’s new initiatives to encourage younger scholars interested in Central Europe. In addition to this journal, CAS has launched a Seminar Fellows Program that brings together advanced graduate students. CAS has organized three workshops since 2016 on the themes of “Religious Culture and Social Change in Central Europe ca. 1400-1600,” “History and Culture in Central Europe during the Long 18th Century,” and “Authority and Power: Religion, Society, and Politics in Central Europe” and plans more for the future.

Johns Hopkins University School Of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
240-888-4640

Dr. Daniel S. Hamilton
Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Professor

www.sais-jhu.edu
www.transatlanticrelations.org

Mission and History

Johns Hopkins University is a leading U.S. research university with substantial commitment and expertise on international affairs and has been a pioneer in U.S. higher education in the enduring value of regional studies. It has a substantial commitment to the study of contemporary Europe. The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies is one of the leading graduate schools of international relations in the world, with campuses in Washington, DC; Bologna, Italy; and Nanjing, China. The student body is fully international, including students from Austria. It is one of the leading universities preparing young Austrians for international careers.

Programs And Activities

The School’s partnership with the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation supports the Austrian Marshall Plan Professor and 2-3 Austrian postdoctoral fellows each academic year, who over the past seven years have focused on themes relevant to contemporary central and eastern Europe and now on “The United States, Europe, and World Order.” Activities also include the Austrian Lecture Series, sponsored together with the Austrian Embassy to the United States and other organizations, and various publications and books in international affairs. In May 2018, we hosted the Annual Lecture in partnership with the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies, featuring Leon Botstein, President of Bard College. In April 2018, Professor Hamilton was the opening speaker at the U.S. Department of State’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, and in June 2017 hosted former Austrian President Heinz Fischer, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin at related events. In June 2017, Professor Hamilton, a frequent speaker in Austria and commentator for Austrian media, for example was the keynote speaker at the annual “Pfingsdialog” in Graz with the theme “Europe.USA.3.0.”

The North Atlantic Triangle Commission Austrian Academy Of Sciences

Mission and History

The interdisciplinary Commission was founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, in 2012, and will continue to work at least until the end of 2023. The commission investigates in interdisciplinary fashion the contacts and cultural exchange between both sides of the Atlantic to show the consequences of these processes in various fields (politics, literature and culture, demography, etc.).

The objects of inquiry are, inter alia, the reflection in literature of the waves of migration from continental Europe to North America in the 19th and 20th centuries, the visits and stays by tens of thousands of expatriates from North America in Europe in the interwar years, as well as the diverse aspects of the intensive cultural exchange between the continents since World War Two. These topics have admittedly been the subject of many individual studies, but the commission addresses these issues in interdisciplinary conferences and symposia and publishes the results of these events in the form of books and collections of essays. These goals are to be reached through intensive collaboration with members of the Royal Society of Canada, the British Academy, the Royal Netherlands Academy, and with other prominent experts in the USA and several European countries.

The Commission currently has the following members:
Ao. Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dr. Mag. phil. Siegfried Beer (Univ. Graz)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carmen Birkle (Univ. Marburg, D)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Philipp Gassert (Univ. Mannheim)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christoph Irmscher k.M.i.A. (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Univ.-Prof. i.R. Fritz Peter Kirsch (Univ. Wien)
Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Wynfrid Kriegleder (Univ. Wien)
Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Martin Löschnigg, k.M. (Univ. Graz)
Univ.-Prof. i.R. Herta Nagl-Docekal, w.M. (Univ. Wien)
Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Manfred Prisching, k.M. (Univ. Graz), deputy chair
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Danuta Shanzer, w.M. (Univ. Wien)
Prof. Dr. Werner Sollors, k.M.i.A. (Harvard University)
Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Cornelia Szabó-Knotik (Univ. Wien)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jörg Türschmann (Univ. Wien)
Em. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Waldemar Zacharasiewicz w.M. (Univ. Wien), chair

Programs And Activities

On the basis of conferences and symposia organized by the Commission, several peer-reviewed volumes have appeared: Return from Exile: Rückkehr aus dem Exil. Exiles Returnees and Their Impact in the Humanities and Social Sciences in Austria and Central Europe, Ein Filmphilosophie-Symposium mit Robert B. Pippin: Western, Film Noir und das Kino der Brüder Dardenne, Immigration and Integration in North America: Canadian and Austrian Perspectives, Narratives of Encounters in the North Atlantic Triangle, and Cultural Circulation: Dialogues between Canada and the American South. Another, Ideas Crossing the Atlantic: Theories, Normative Conceptions and Cultural Images, is under review. Currently a new collection of essays based on the international symposium “Traveling Ideas and Their Mediators: Transatlantic Elective Affinities”, convened in June 2018, is also being prepared for publication.

In addition, the members of the Commission have published the following monographs or collections of essays relevant to the field of research of the Commission: Transatlantic Networks and the Perception and Representation of Vienna and Austria between the 1920s and 1950s (forthcoming), special issue of the academic journal Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies titled Focus on the First World War, Then and Now: Literature, Theatre, and the Arts, North America, Europe and the Cultural Memory of the First World War, and Charles Sealsfield und die transatlantische Internationalität: Biographische Konditionierung und literarische Umsetzung.

As of the fall of 2017, the members of the Commission also published about forty scholarly articles pertinent to the research field of the Commission outside the collections brought out by the Commission. These essays in the disciplines of literary and cultural studies, history and contemporary history, sociology, philosophy and musicology appeared in peer-reviewed periodicals and collections of essays. Another twenty are currently in press.

Several members of the Commission are preparing contributions for the next international conference “Cultural Politics and Propaganda: Mediated Narratives and Images in Austrian-American Relations (1900-2000)”, scheduled for the end of March 2019. The members of the Commission have also begun to prepare a conference on ”Artificial Intelligence and Human ‘Enhancement‘: Affirmative and Critical Approaches in Literature and Philosophy on Both Sides of the Atlantic” and have initiated the long-term project of a database, which is to collect and make widely accessible transatlantic links and networks between Austria/Central Europe and the USA.

The Europe Center, Stanford University

Encina Hall
616 Serra Mall C100
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
650-723-4581

https://tec.fsi.stanford.edu/

Mission and History

Mission: The Europe Center provides an interdisciplinary platform for collaboration among scholars who teach and conduct research on the histories, cultures, institutions, and people of Europe, to collectively advance our understanding of the region. Additionally, the Center provides a forum where experts and scholars productively engage with, and shape, contemporary public policy debates regarding Europe and its evolving position on the international stage.

Audience: Faculty, students, researchers and policymakers

Who we serve: Faculty, students, researchers and policymakers

History: The Europe Center is jointly housed in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Global Studies Division at Stanford University. Founded in 1997 as the European Forum, it became a full research center in 2010. The Europe Center continues to serve as a hub for interdisciplinary research on the histories, cultures and institutions and people of Europe, and the role of Europe in addressing current global economic, political and security issues.

Programs And Activities

Main programs include:

  • Global Populisms
  • European Security

  • European Governance
  • Europe and the Global Economy
  • Migration
  • European Public Finance
  • Austria and Central Europe
  • France and the Francophone World
  • Iberian Peninsula

The Europe Center organizes seminars, lectures, conferences, and workshops.

Larger collaborative projects, either with their own sponsorship or sponsored by TEC: Global Populisms, The European Security Initiative, etc.

U.S. Embassy Vienna
Public Affairs Section
Boltzmanngasse 16
1090 Vienna, Austria
+43-1-31339-0
ViennaUSEmbassy@state.gov

https://at.usembassy.gov/

Mission and History

The Mission of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Austria encompasses public engagement with Austrian citizens; sharing knowledge about the U.S. and its institutions; shaping Austrians’ opinion about the United States; and, providing opportunities for educational, academic, and professional exchange between the United States and Austria.

The beginnings of U.S.-Austrian diplomatic relations date back to 1838, when the first emissaries where exchanged. By 1850, Austria had established 11 honorary Consular Offices, mostly along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, focusing mainly on trade in tobacco and cotton. Over time, and despite two worlds wars, the U.S. and Austria built and rebuilt trade relations that prosper today. The U.S. is Austria’s second largest partner in trade and investment. For U.S. companies, Austria represents an attractive and affluent export market.

Programs And Activities

The Public Affairs Section conducts a variety of programs, including:

Working closely with Austrian media to share information about the U.S. and providing opportunities for U.S. positions to be articulated.

Inviting U.S. experts from a variety of fields to share their knowledge with Austrian audiences.
Organizing public engagement programs and events featuring various aspects of U.S. society and culture.

Providing opportunities for educational, academic, and professional exchange as well as youth exchange.

Supporting study of the United States at Austrian schools and universities.
Providing opportunities for young Austrians to meet U.S. citizens through the MeetUS outreach program

Recent trends include increased use of social and digital media for outreach purposes; honing the image of the United States and aligning it with the actual impact of U.S. popular culture and business on Austrian society.

My personal portfolio includes the administration of the Embassy’s academic and professional exchange programs including the International Visitor Leadership Program; Study of the U.S. program; and others as well as liaising with Fulbright Austria.

I advise the Ambassador and other Senior Embassy officials on invitations extended to Embassy leadership and carry out all preparations for visits and speaking engagement at universities, friendship societies, think tanks, and others.

I also work closely with the Austrian universities, in particular the departments of English language and American Studies, History, and Political Science and administer the Embassy’s support for their endeavors.

Another element of my work is the observation of anniversaries. In that capacity, I conceived and organized the Embassy’s yearlong campaign in observance of the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan in Austria, in close cooperation with the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation and Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws).

Wirth Institute For Austrian And Central European Studies

Suite 300, Arts Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2E6
1-780-492-1444

Director: Joseph F. Patrouch
patrouch@ualberta.ca

Communications and Administration Specialist: Rychele Wright
rawright@ualberta.ca

www.wirth.ualberta.ca

Mission and History

The Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies was originally established in 1998 upon an initiative by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Sciences, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Austrian Conference of University Presidents as the “Canadian Centre for Austrian and Central European Studies.” Subsequently, the Centre received the support of the Governments of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Renamed the “Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies” in October 2003 in recognition of Dr. Manfred and Dr. Alfred Wirth’s generous endowment, our principal mandate is to raise the profile of Central Europe and Central European Studies in Canada and to provide a leadership role in a network of cooperation in this field with other Canadian universities. We act as both an academic and cultural institute and sponsor and organize lectures, conferences, artistic festivals, symposia, concerts, exhibitions, and other scholarly and cultural events with an Austrian and central European theme. We also engage in international cooperative ventures with institutions in the United States and Europe.

We assist all relevant units within the university community in the task of having the University of Alberta recognized as the leading center for Central European Studies in Canada. We also work with the Embassies of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia to maintain and enhance Canada’s most outstanding resource centre for Central European Studies for the use of scholars throughout Canada and the United States.

Programs And Activities

The Wirth Institute sponsors traditional academic activities such as book publications, conferences, lectures, and student and faculty exchange programs. We host doctoral research fellows from central Europe and support a network of early career scholars connecting Canada and central Europe, the Wirth Alumni Network. As a member of the worldwide network of Austrian centres and institutes supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research, we also participate in that network’s activities. This year, we hosted the network’s annual meeting and conference.

Because the Wirth Institute is institutionally hosted by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, it is connected to scholars in a wide variety of fields in the Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. This means that the Institute also sponsors creative projects such as art exhibits, concerts, CD productions, and musical compositions.

The Institute also is home to the Rudolf Vrba Holocaust Reading Room, a campus resource for students and scholars studying the European Holocaust of the mid-twentieth century. In addition to the Reading Room, the Institute sponsors annual lectures in the fields of Holocaust and Jewish Studies.

Although the Institute concentrates on the study of Austria in its central European context in the past and present, it also has an interest in promoting academic and cultural ties between Canada and central Europe. The Institute administers scholarship programs and negotiates exchange agreements between Canadian and European institutions such as the University of Innsbruck in Austria and the Universities of Silesia and Wroclaw in Poland.

Another area of interest of the Wirth Institute is migration: the experiences of men and women who moved from central Europe to Canada have been and will continue to be the focus of many of the institute’s programs. A conference on central Europeans’ migrations to Canada is planned for next academic year. Much of the funding for the Institute’s programs comes from Austro-Canadians as well as groups representing immigrants to Canada from other parts of central Europe such as Croatia, Czech Republic, and Poland.