LECTURE BY PROFESSOR HOWARD BLOCH - USES OF HUMANITIES IN DIFFICULT TIMES March 31, 2009 in Collegium Budapest More than 25 people were present at Professor Bloch's presentation titled "USES OF HUMANITIES IN DIFFICULT TIMES".

After the opening remarks of Andrew Sors, Rector of Collegium Budapest, Professor Bloch brought examples and references from European literature and history of the past millenium which suggested to us - traumas as the current one happened before, albeit in different form.

The Professor took the opportunity to walk to the window of the lecture hall to demonstrate one of history's famous gestures, holding up the book to the (Matthias) church building, foretelling that the printed word will destroy the latter...

only to turn into to a modern analogy holding up a mobilephone to the book... The thought provoking lecture was followed by a Q&A and a generous reception provided by Collegium Budapest. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rector Andrew Sors and Programme Director Éva Gönczi for making this event happen.

FORUM FOR CHANGE - PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING On March 08, 2009

the Forum for Change (www.amforchange.org formerly under the name "Hungary for Obama') held its planning committee meeting. IvyPlus will cooperate with 'Amforchange' in sharing ideas and brainstorming about ways and methods to bring about change. To the best of our knowledge at least 2 members of Amforchange (founder Merrill Oates and member Imre Hild) are also involved in IvyPlus so the communication will hopefully flow unabatedly.

FLOWCHAT VISITING IVYPLUS - a 3 minute video Our recent meeting at the Avocado proved to be great success. Although the grumpy head waiter crammed all 20 of us into the cozy upper quarter of the restaurant we had a great time and we will have even better time next time at some other locale ☺. It was especially refreshing to see new members who met us in person for the first time – Byron Flores (Columbia’02) and Mickela Moore (Georgetown’85), Jennifer Dell-Ernström (Cornell, Harvard‘92). Hope to see them again in November. It was interesting to see the new edition of the ‚Surviving and Thriving in Budapest“ guide which is published by NAWA (North American Women’s Association) represented by Jennifer who is the secretary of NAWA. The guide can be of great interest to those who are just arrived to Budapest, so please spread the word..! The Speaker Series next installment was canceled due to the small space we had – surely we will make up for it at our new locale. Anyways, we had a lot to talk about… those ivyplusers for whom this was the second or third time – Attila Kondács, Eszter Karsza – had a chance to meet all the regular members - Daniel Straub (Columbia’03), András Krajnyák, György Herczeg (Cornell’99), Juan Wang (Berkeley’05) and husband Ognen Stojanovski (Berkeley, Stanford’02) and of course the Insead troupe led by President Mentor Peter Záboji (Insead, Insead Alumni Association) and manned by Peter Juhász (Insead’02), Balázs Asztalos (Insead) and Gábor Purman (Insead’02). The atmoshpere was great and we lasted until 10 pm. So, for next time prepare for new locale, Speaker Series No. IV…. And I will post all the ideas on ‚ Where Hungary should be in 2028 (there were some interesting suggestions at the meeting, too)…

FLOWCHAT VISITING IVYPLUS - a 3 minute video It was our honor to host Carolyn Glassman and Jan Krc at our recent IvyPlus meeting held in the Ybl Cigar Salon, by courtesy of the Ybl Club. Mrs Glassman and Mr Krc shared with the audience of 15+ members what the American Corners program is about and what plans they have to promote American education among Hungarian youth. As we found out, Hungary currently ranks very low on the list of homecountries of international students studying in the USA. They would like to increase awareness of the existence of scholarships programs available for Hungarian students, which currently go unclaimed. There was a very useful Q&A after the informal presentation, with very interesting insights and ideas from our members. The American Corners program would welcome our US educated members to participate in the program by sharing their first hand experiences with students who are considering studying in the USA. For more information for vounteering, please contact the American Corners Program