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The European Page:
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Many probably remember the uproar in the press and
academia in 2005 when Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers suggested that the lack of female scientists in the
USA is
due to the “innate” differences between men and women. A lot has been said and written on this topic, but it does
statistically appear that there are more men than women in science in the United
States.
The female students at the USA/USA Program do not
pay attention to these numbers; many of them actively pursue undergraduate degrees in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Biochemistry
etc., and then continue on a PhD track. One of many such students, Olga Davydenko, 22, is from Sevastopol. Double-majoring in Biochemistry and Bioengineering, she will be graduating Magna
Cum Laude from Union College
in June of 2008. She will start a PhD program in the fall. Union College
is an independent, highly selective undergraduate institution that has educated prominent bankers, inventors, writers, scientists, diplomats, lawyers, and a former President of the
United States - Chester A. Arthur. Located
in Schenectady, a small town in upstate New York,
this is a perfect place for young minds to focus on their academics.
After trying in vain to shove her old high school
interest in Chemistry and Biology under a rug, and pursuing a degree in accounting, Olga came to Union.
I asked Olga about her prospects in “soft sciences.” The energetic, effervescent and witty young scientist replied,
“Well lets see, if it wasn’t for USA/USA I would have now graduated with a degree in accounting from
Sevastopol National
Technical University, which
does not sound bad at all, except I hated economics and loathed working a boring job for the rest of my life. I would also
be married now. Shudder.”
Once given a chance to study something she really
loved, Olga used every opportunity to learn more and be a leading example in her field. She is President of the Chemistry
Club at Union. All three of her campus jobs are directly related to learning more and encouraging
others to learn as well: She works 20 hours a week as a tutor for the Biology Department, is a tutoring supervisor for The
Academic Opportunity Program (AOP) and the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), and a lab technician for one
of her Biochemistry professors. This girl does not seem to stop working even during her summer breaks. “ Every summer
during my undergraduate career I did research. After my freshman year I was in Ukraine
working on the USA/USA seminar and conducting research in the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas located in Sevastopol.
The summer after my sophomore year I completed an Endocrine Society Fellowship while working in a reproductive endocrinology
lab at the Wadsworth Center in Albany, NY. The past summer before my
last year of college I was a Union College Summer Research Fellow working on the project that was to become my senior thesis
(which it did).”
After her acceptance as one of the 10 USA/USA Program
scholars in 2001, Olga has been actively giving back to the Program. She worked without monetary compensation for three summers
at the USA/USA Seminars where, together with other volunteers, she instructed the new USA/USA scholars on how to write essays,
study for the SATs and fill out financial aid forms. Besides teaching scholars about the technicalities of the application
process, the USA/USA Seminars turn into galvanizing gatherings for young Ukrainian talent, inspiring them to reach high and
work hard. Not every USA/USA scholar ends up coming to the United States, but each of them remembers their Seminar and is
“never the same” after they’ve completed it.
Young scientific minds like Olga would not have had
an opportunity to pursue their passion in science in Ukraine:
they all confess that it’s a sad situation with inadequate equipment in the labs and low salaries for scientists. If
they stayed back in Ukraine, these students would most probably have chosen
other career paths, the same way Olga tried accounting, and their gift to science would be completely lost, both for Ukraine and for humanity. After coming to the United States they can work on their research and become true leaders in the field, and then
set up world-class research labs in Ukraine.
The USA/USA Program serves exactly these motivated, talented students, opening the doors of opportunity to regular Ukrainians
from ordinary families who are eager to learn in a world-class environment.
I asked Olga in private whether she came to the USA to stay, to which she responded that she likes being in this country solely as a science
student because “the labs are fantastic,” but she misses “the general atmosphere of Ukraine.”
To find out more about the USA/USA Program and its
students please contact Yevheniya Krutko, the Executive Director of the organization.
USA/USA Program
80 Maiden Lane, suite 606
New York, NY
10038
Tel: +1-212-785-4170
Yevheniya@ukrainianscholarships.org
419, or 'THE SPANISH PRISONER' , exhibit opens in Barcelona January 18, 2008
The exhibition
project on the Nigerian e-mail scam known as the 419, with a documentary section by curator Jeffrey Swartz and a video installation
by Catalan artist Pep Dardanyà, will open at the Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, on January 18, 2008. The exhibition
runs to March 23.
One part of the exhibition space is dedicated
to a documentary portrait of the 419 advanced fee fraud, featuring books, CDs, objects, document portfolios and reproductions
of documents and images, as well as scambaiter merchandising and a computer where links might be explored. This portrait includes
an analysis of the internet culture that facilitates the success of 419, its legal ramifications, the world of anti-scam activism
and scam-baiting, as well as a view into present day Nigeria and the cultural dynamics of Lagos where the scam originated.
Pep Dardanyà contributes the video installation "Correlation 1.1", which astutely points up
the contradictions and ambivalences of culture contact between post-colonial Nigeria and the First World.
A full overview of the documentation to be exhibited and internet links related to the show have been posted here. A more complete press release from the previous venue in Vic is available here .
A video of the exhibit in Girona can be viewed
on YouTube.
The article published in the Spanish daily El
País on November 23 can be found here.
Project produced in collaboration with Centre
d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona
Culture Minister George Voulgarakis announced on Tuesday that an indication will be placed at the Acropolis
on March 26 that this emblem of Greek cultural heritage will be proclaimed the top monument on the European Heritage Monuments
List being prepared. He was speaking here at the end of the informal meeting of European Union culture ministers.
The
theme of the informal council was "The economy of culture", meaning economic activity about culture that produces income and
jobs and constitutes a new dimension.
"We are still at the beginning. It is a policy in the making," Voulgarakis told
Greek reporters, underlining the different starting points of rapprochement between countries whose "cultural" interests concern,
for example, a developed cinema industry and others, such as Greece, whose "heavy artillery" of cultural interests lies in
the utilisation of their cultural heritage.
The Greek minister also referred to the European Heritage Monuments List
being prepared, that was scheduled recently at the initiative of France, Spain and Hungary and was supported by Greece, stressing
that the ultimate aim of the undertaking is its inclusion in a programme of the European Union to enable funds to be found
for the preservation of monuments.
Federal Minister Steinmeier opens Charlemagne Prize exhibition in Brussels
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is in Brussels for a General Affairs Council meeting, today opens an exhibition
on "The International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen" in the Council's Justus Lipsius building.
On display are portraits of the 48 people who have been awarded the prize from 1950 to 2006, including the founding fathers
of Europe and personalities who have played a key part in promoting European unity such as Alcide de Gasperi (1952), Jean
Monnet (1953) and Konrad Adenauer (1954), continuing through to present-day laureates like Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
(2003), Patrick Cox/Pope John Paul II (2004), Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (2005) and Jean-Claude Juncker (2006).
In December 2006, the board of directors of the Charlemagne Prize Society decided that the 2007 International Charlemagne
Prize would go to former Spanish foreign minister and ex-NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana Madariaga, now High Representative
and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. Solana's great-uncle, Salvador de Madariaga, was also awarded
the Charlemagne Prize in 1973. Traditionally, the award ceremony takes place in Aachen on Ascension Day. In 2007, this falls
on 17 May.
The exhibition is one of the events in the Cultural Programme organized by the German EU Council Presidency.
The exhibition has been organized by the Foundation for the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen and the city of Aachen
in cooperation with the German Foreign Office, the German Permanent Representation to the European Union and the Goethe-Institut,
and has been co-sponsored by Deutsche Telekom.
Note for the media: This event is open to the media. If you are interested in attending, please contact
the Council's Press Office.
Meeting of the European Union Troika and Afghanistan
in Berlin
On 29 January 2007 a meeting between the European Union Troika and Afghanistan will take place at the Federal Foreign Office.
The talks will centre on the development of the situation in Afghanistan during the past year, the EU's activities in Afghanistan
and Afghanistan's relations with its neighbours. The European Union is one of the most important promoters of reconstruction
in Afghanistan.
Javier Solana, High Representative for the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner
for External Relations, will represent the European Union at the meeting, which is to be chaired by Federal Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Foreign Minister Rangin Spanta will head the Afghan delegation. Portuguese Foreign Minister Luís
Amado will also participate in the talks within the context of the incoming presidency.
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Academic Special
Situation in Slovakia and activities of Priama akcia (IWA/AIT Slovakia) in 2005-2006
08/01/2007
Political situation
Slovakia was formed in 1993. In the period of 1994-1998 there was a ruling
coalition of nationalist, leftist and centrist parties which tried to build strong national state, which means to privatize
as much economic property as possible and concentrate it in hands of Slovak capitalists connected to the ruling coalition.
This tendency naturally leads to international isolation.
In 1998 parliamentary elections right-wing wins and the same
in 2002. First, many people had big hopes in new right-wing coalition but soon their hopes disappeared because there was no
evident progress in social sphere. However, Slovakia was praised for its economic progress and in fact became a forefront
of European neoliberal experiment.
In 2006 parliamentary elections in which the social democrats SMER won the participation
was around 52 %. Before the elections they made a pact with major union confederation KOZ. Social democrats formed new ruling
coalition with nationalists and centrist-right party (both part of the 1994-1998 ruling coalition).
Social and economic aspects
As for social situation, after 17 years of structural changes
social situation changed minimally and for many people not for better. If you look at the unemployment rate, it was over 19
% in 1998 and now it´s around 14 or 16 % (depends on the method of counting). Real wages are still lower than in 1989. Present
average wage is around 480 Euro which is just statistics that doesn´t take into consideration growing gap between worker and
management wages and different industrial sectors. For many workers the official average wage was and still is just a dream
that they are able to reach only by overtimes, nightshifts or weekend work. Usual wage in many sectors is very close to the
minimum wage, in many cases not more than 250 Euro, usually in sectors traditionally employed by women.
Combined with social
cuts, these factors have led to massive disillusionment and disappointment from the capitalist reality of democracy and election
system.
New social democratic government is trying to build an image of social feeling with the people and establish several
pro-social appearing changes that obviously attract people’s attention. Now the social democrats have even bigger support
among population than before the elections. Also, Slovakia is seen in good light by the capital. For example, the currency
is breaking all the historical records now. Effects of these situation do not seem to be very good for the future of the workers
resistance initiatives in Slovakia.
Workers resistance and union movement
Response of the working class to social experiments
has been almost none till now. Membership of trade unions in Slovakia fell from some 2 millions in 1989 to half a million
in 2004 (which is 24 % of working population according to unions). People lose faith because unions are totally inactive in
bipartite (workplace) and the "successes" in triparite (national level) are very little. Also, union officials agree that
they are not able to attract young workers to join which is nothing unusual.
The union credo is straight - social partnership
by any means necessary. This was the culture of union work since the beginning and this culture directly led people not only
to leaving unions but also to complete distrust in any union activity.
There are various reasons for this fatal approach
of unions. Bureaucracy, making carrier in the unions, submissive culture, no real solidarity among different unions, promises
instead of direct actions, appeasing of all potential areas of social conflicts and strikes in workplaces, benefits from high
union positions, culture of partnership and necessity of good image in front of tripartite partners, no experience with and
fear of direct actions, acceptance of the necessity to restructure the economy for future better conditions even if it means
lower wages or unemployment and currently also a pact with social democrats.
As mentioned before, unions in Slovakia do
not use direct actions to fulfil their demands. There have been only 4 nationwide union strikes from 1993 to 2006. It was
four-day railway workers strike, one-day teachers strike and quite ridiculous one-hour general strike, all in 2003, and in
2006 strike in health sector.
As for individual workplace strikes, the media report them rather rarely but we can estimate
that the number of strikes is higher. However, there is no workers network to inform about these strikes, about their development
and about how they end. Usual workers protest are in form of happenings of several tens of workers, mainly union officials
in front of government buildings or demonstrations with several hundred or thousand of unionists. Traditionally, the biggest
union federation Confederation of trade unions (KOZ) organises central a 1st May demonstration in some Middle Slovakia town
with not more than 2000 unionists.
Continues........
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Now is the Time for U.S. Employers to Hire European Students for Summer 2007
(OPENPRESS) January, 12, 2007 Moscow, Russia -- Over 1,000 college and university students in Europe are highly motivated,
dedicated, and reliable employees who are looking for a U.S. employer for the summer of 2007.
"We provide employers
with English-speaking international students for unskilled service industry positions such as kitchen help, housekeepers,
lifeguards, amusement park workers, and similar jobs. These are highly motivated college or university students who are all
18 and over. They all speak and understand English very well," explained Alex Lazarev, from the J-1 Jobs Group.
The
J-1Jobs Group was founded by former participants of the Work and Travel program. They specialize in helping qualified students
and American employers find each other. They do not charge employers for their placement services.
"The workers we
provide all have the proper J-1 visa and are anxious to live and work in the U.S.A. for the summer. All of our participants
are eager and motivated because they can earn more in the U.S. than in their homeland. The experience enables them to develop
their theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as to enrich their command of the language and improve their communication
skills. Students build their future and are patient, thoughtful, and very smart," said Lazarev.
More than 500 students
have received jobs through the program in the past two years. More than 40 companies have hired the students, including McDonalds,
Seven Eleven, Continental Pools, College Pro, Gabby's Kitchen, Squire Tarbox Inn, and LAM Enterprises amusement park.
"To
get workers for next summer, you need to fill out a request now. Students must apply for a visa very soon, and to do so they
must prove they have a job. That's why students need job offers from U.S. employers right now," said Lazarev.
Employers
can find more information, and a form to request student employees by visiting http://www.GetSummerStaff.com on the Internet.
About J-1 Jobs Group:
The J-1 Jobs Group is a placement service for highly qualified, motivated,
and reliable European college and university students who want summer jobs in the U.S.A. There is no fee to employers for
the service.
Press Contact:
Alex Lazarev
U.S. Phone: (617) 326-3842
Press release services provided by
http://www.ThatPRGuy.com.
###
Professional Free Press Release News Wire
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Tri - Falcon and Dove Productions * 103 West Seneca, Suite 206A * Ithaca * NY *
14850
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Cross Webbing:
The combination of these speicalized webing arrangement of sites are to give focus, and a training manual
text in developing Intercultural Communications Internet Network, and the basis of its development, Cultural Democracy.
This adds a unique supportive feature in the additional developement of the Inter - Cities Cultural Communications Program
initiated by Mr. Roger M. Christian.
***
International InterCultural Communications and International Students / Scholars role finctions. Here within this WebSite footer you will see several links which are connected to the major website
with InterCultural Communications are it subject matter, as well as in its promotions within the Internet. This has
now proved to most effective, as you are now see thins as a result of earned google dot com rankings.
Campus Network ~ International and National Cultural Fiesta Movement :
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