From June 8- 10, sixteen former Wirth Institute Fellows and guest researchers met in Budapest to further build the Wirth Alumni Network, an organization founded in Vienna two years ago. The alumni gathered in the Hungarian capital to agree on Terms of Reference for the group and elect its first official officers. Men and women from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland gathered to remember their year in Edmonton, many meeting their fellow alumni for the first time. In addition to the business meeting, social activities included a banquet, a walking tour of the city, and a boat trip on the Danube River. Institute director Joseph F. Patrouch, founding director Franz A.J. Szabo, office manager Sylwia Adam-Ross, and current Austrian visiting professor Helga Mitterbauer also attended. Plans call for a web presence and email distribution list to help the one-time Wirth Institute scholars stay in touch and to contact the almost forty alumni of the various Wirth fellowship programs. The next meeting of the Wirth Alumni Network is planned for Prague in Spring 2014.
For further information, contact the new WAN president, Eleonóra Szanyi (Wirth Fellow, 2007-2008) at wirth.institute@ualberta.ca
Visit the photo gallery to view pictures from the Budapest meeting or click here.