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From left to right: Dr. Cristian Chereji, Dr. Catalin Baba, Dr. Rusty Brooks, Dr. Tudor Vlad, Dr. Laura Meadows, Dr. Emil Boc, Dr. Stefanie Linquist,Dr. Paul Brooks, Mr. Powell Moore, and Dr. Calin Hintea. |
UGA Delegation Discusses Multi-Disciplinary Partnership with Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
A delegation from the University of Georgia traveled to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in late September to present a renewed memorandum of agreement between the university and Babes-Bolyai University.
The agreement creates a framework for the development of cooperative educational, service and research activities for the mutual benefit of both institutions.
Dr. Paul Brooks, associate vice president for Public Service and Outreach, gave the memorandum of agreement to Dr. Ioan-Aurel Pop, rector of Babes-Bolyai. The agreement had been signed following a meeting between UGA President Jere Morehead and a Romanian delegation in November 2013.
“It is a pleasure and an honor to see you here, in Cluj-Napoca, and I have wonderful memories about my visit in Athens,” said Rector Pop to the U.S. group. “We envision a broad collaboration between our two universities, with a significant educational impact in this region of Europe that has become, once again, important for global security.”
The UGA delegation, in addition to Dr. Brooks, consisted of Powell Moore, an expert in public affairs, national security and international relations and a UGA alumnus, Dr. Stefanie Lindquist, Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs, Dr. Laura Meadows, Director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Dr. Rusty Brooks, Associate Director of the Carl Vinson Institute, and Dr. Tudor Vlad, former chair of the Journalism Department at Babes-Bolyai University.
Dr. Vlad is associate director of the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and research, the international outreach unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Vlad was instrumental in organizing the visit by the Romanian delegation to the University of Georgia in November of 2013 and the visit by the University of Georgia delegation to Babes-Bolyai in September.
Together with their Romanian counterparts, the U.S. guests participated on September 22-23 in a workshop entitled Building a Romanian-American Educational Hub for Transitional Societies, organized in the conference room of the College of Political Sciences, Public Administration and Communication Studies.
About 40 participants attended the workshop, whose final session was open to the media.
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University of Georgia delegation meeting with rector of Babes-Bolyai University, Dr. Ioan-Aurel Pop. |
The following Romanian faculty gave presentations: Dr. Calin Hintea, Dean, FSPAC; Dr. Catalin Baba, FSPAC, former Minister of Education, Romania Government; Dr. Cristian Chereji, Associate Dean, FSPAC; Dr. Gabriel Badescu, Chair, Political Science Department, FSPAC; Dr. Dan Sandor, Chair, Public Administration Department, FSPAC; Dr. Levente Salat, Associate Dean, FSPAC; and Dr. Ioan Hosu, Chair, Communication and Public Relation Department, FSPAC.
The American guests also visited Banca Transilvania, the third largest bank in Romania in terms of assets, with a market share of over eight percent. The bank has just celebrated 20 years of existence.
During the visit, eight bank managers gave a presentation of their activity and of education programs that their institution has sponsored.
The UGA faculty also had a meeting with Dr. Emil Boc, mayor of Cluj-Napoca, former Prime Minister of the Romanian Government between 2008 and 2012, and professor in the Political Science Department at Babes-Bolyai. Dr. Boc spoke about his work as a Prime Minister and Mayor and about his experience as a Fulbright scholar in the United States in 1996.
Moore, a member of the Board of Visitors of the Cox International Center, told Babes-Bolyai faculty about the special role that Romania is playing in east and central Europe. “Romania has been our strong ally in the last two decades,” Moore said. “You have paid a price in Afghanistan and Iraq, but those sacrifices have cemented our relationship and have gained you our deepest respect.”
“The memories of the Communist regime that was imposed by the Soviet Union in Romania after the Second World War are still vivid here,” said Dr. Calin Hintea, dean of the College of Political Sciences, Public Administration and Communication Studies.
“What many people don’t know is that an anti-communist resistance existed in Romania until the mid fifties,” Dr. Hintea said. “Those freedom fighters were mostly in the Carpathian mountains and their hope was that, one night, the Americans would come to help them.”
