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JUST
ANOTHER BRUSH WITH WORLD HISTORY IN ATHENS, OH . . .
EUROPEAN CENTER WILL WELCOME
LEIPZIG
FIGURE,
OTHERS
Contact:
Robert Stewart, Ohio University, 740-593-2601
ATHENS,
Ohio -- On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the fall of
the Berlin Wall, Ohio University will welcome one of the
leaders who played a key role in that historic event.
Robert
Stewart, professor of journalism and Ohio's coordinator of
the University of Leipzig Exchange Program, said Prorector
Christoph Kaehler would be one of four guests on hand today
for a program reception.
Kaehler
was one of the pastors who gave the "Monday Prayer" in the
St. Nicholai church in Leipzig, which led to the public
demonstrations that eventually led to the downfall of the
East German regime, Stewart said. The Berlin Wall fell on
November 9, 1989.
The
reception, sponsored by the Ohio Leipzig European Center
(OLEC) Steering Committee, is being held from 4-5:30 p.m. in
Gordy Hall 113.
Kaehler
will be joined by three other guests from the University of
Leipzig: Dr. Svend Poller, Director of the Office of
European & International Academic Affairs; Professor
Wolfgang Hoepken, history department; and Sybille Scholz,
InterDaf Intensive German Language Institute.
Guests
will also celebrate a century-old OU-Leipzig connection that
was discovered during planning for the European Center.
John P. Gordy, who taught education, American History,
philosophy, and pedagogy at Ohio University from 1886-1896,
received his Ph.D. in 1884 from the University of Leipzig.
The Hall bearing his name now houses Ohio University's
Education Abroad office, as well as the Modern Languages
program.
Also on
hand will be the first group of Ohio University students to
take part in the OLEC "Study Program in the New Europe" this
spring. The Center, which was announced last April by
President Robert Glidden and Connie Perdreau, director of
the Office of Education Abroad, will provide about 120 Ohio
University undergraduate students a year the opportunity to
live in Germany and learn about the political, social and
cultural institutions of modern Europe.
Although
the study program is new, the groundwork was laid beginning
in 1992, when the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the
Contemporary History Institute initiated a student and
faculty exchange. Nearly 300 faculty and students from the
two universities have participated in the program since
then.
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