In a brief ceremony held in the Senate Chamber of the Old Arts Building, Barbara Weitgruber, the Director General for Scientific Research and International Relations of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research, Dr. Martin Ferguson-Pell, Acting Provost of the University of Alberta, and Dr. Lesley Cormack, Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta, signed a Memorandum of Understanding renewing the Austrian ministry's support for the Wirth Institute for another five years. This support, which began in 1998, funds the Visiting Professorship in Austrian Studies at the university (currently held by Dr. Helga Mitterbauer of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies) as well as the Austrian Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship. The Austrian delegation included Dr. Christoph Ramoser, the ministry's Head of the International Relations and Promotion of Young Researchers Department. The two Austrian representatives also met with representatives of the Province of Alberta's Office of International and Intergovernmental Relations while they were in Edmonton and discussed ways that Austria and Alberta can cooperate more closely in the future.
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