¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥

It is with great pleasure that I write to introduce myself as the new incoming Director of the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies. My enthusiasm around this new position is anchored in my conviction that what the Wirth represents mirrors my own interests. Working with everyone connected to the Wirth, I hope to do my part to bring enriching programming to Edmonton’s local community, to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ students and faculty, to Canada’s tightly interlocking cultural and research bodies, and to the Central European associations who hope to collaborate with our initiatives. To date, my own work has been focused on the southern provinces of the Habsburg Monarchy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and I’ve dedicated my life to researching what it felt like to live in multi-ethnic and multi-lingual societies while nationalist ideologies, state structures, and open conflicts increasingly made their mark on local life. At the Wirth I hope to support initiatives related to my own work, of course, but also to help promote the plethora of other endeavors artists, scholars, policy makers, and culturally-interested people can offer related to Austrian and Central European life, in the past and today.

A priority for me is to continue the impressive work of those Wirth Directors who came before me – Franz Szabo, Joe Patrouch, and Alexander Carpenter. Over the last three decades, separately and together they have cemented the Wirth’s reputation as an intellectually and culturally ambitious centre actively dedicated to fostering the best that Central European studies has to offer. Another priority is to find ways to expand our outreach within Canada and Europe. I believe the greatest strength of the Wirth is the doctoral fellowship programs it has nurtured to sponsor Austrian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, and Croatian, and students to come to the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ for a year to complete their PhDs. Learning with and from them, everyone involved with the Wirth strives to help push for more appreciation of the beauties, sensitivities, and challenges Central European studies reveals. This promises benefits for all. What a wonderful job I’m starting to help keep the Wirth vital and relevant!