CEU President and Rector, John Shattuck, updates the community on recent developments and upcoming events related to marking CEU's 20th year.
Highlights of the video message
Under the guidance of the Anniversary Committee, all CEU departments and units have prepared compelling essays offering reflections on their own institutional developments and achievements, as well as on changes and emerging trends in their academic fields. The essays are available on the anniversary website (http://20.ceu.hu/documents ) and members of the CEU community are encouraged to express their views and opinions regarding these materials by posting comments on the website.
Also in the context of the anniversary year, on June 15, we will host a conference, CEU 20: Reflections on the University and the Meaning of Open Society. It will examine the role of CEU as a center of intellectual inquiry, events that have taken place in the region and the world over the last two decades and that are relevant for CEU’s development, and the contemporary contest over open society. The keynote speaker will be George Soros. Other speakers will include Janos Kis, Ivan Krastev, Wanda Rapaczynski and Aryeh Neier. I have also invited my predecessors as CEU Rectors to participate in the event, and to be honored by CEU. The conference will be followed by a concert co-hosted by CEU and the Liszt Academy. The Academy Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein will perform a program of Mahler and Liszt to commemorate the University’s 20th anniversary, which coincides with the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt.
The 20th Annual CEU Commencement will take place the following day, June 16, at the Budapest Palace of Arts. CEU’s Open Society Prize, announced annually at Commencement, will be awarded this year to Javier Solana, and posthumously to Richard Holbrooke. Our Commencement Speaker will be Kati Marton, a distinguished Hungarian-American writer and human rights advocate.
This year’s Speaker and Open Society Prize recipients symbolize CEU’s unique hybrid identity as an American, Hungarian and European university.