The University of New Orleans is proud of its longstanding relationship with the University of Innsbruck and the thousands of students who have bene ted from the partnership between the two institutions. e University of New Orleans seeks to instill a global perspective in its students. Learning about new languages, cultures, customs and traditions fosters greater understanding and trust across geographic boundaries. Center Austria exemplifies the University’s emphasis on international education through its scholarly and artistic activities and academic partnerships. I look forward to many more decades of fruitful collaboration between the University of New Orleans and the University of Innsbruck.

John W. Nicklow
President
The University of New Orleans

The Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies at the University of New Orleans (Center Austria) is an indispensable link for the transatlantic collaboration of our partner universities and cities. Over the past 20 years - thanks to the dedication and commitment of its Director and staff - many common academic initiatives were promoted and realized.

Just to mention a few, we are proud of an active student and faculty exchange program, an art exchange, regularly organized transatlantic symposia, and top level publications, co-edited by our university presses. The academic and societal network Center Austria established between the U.S. and Europe over the years is remarkable and an important source for University of Innsbruck’s students and researchers. Please accept my gratitude and sincerecongratulations on the 20th anniversary. Ad multos annos!

Tilmann D. Märk
Rektor
The University of Innsbruck

Let me congratulate the University of New Orleans on 20 years of fostering academic cooperation and mobility with Austria. Center Austria is part of the network of Austrian Centers abroad supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy.

Since 2007 the ministry has organized annual conventions of the Austrian Centers as a platform of exchange for the Centers´ directors, but also enabling PhD students from all the centers to network with their colleagues and internationally renowned professors. And the Doctoral Research Fellowship at UNO´s Center Austria has become an integral part of the excellent cooperation between the Ministry and Center Austria.

Barbara Weitgruber
Head of Department
Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy

 There was a fair share of fortuitous serendipity in the establishment of the UNO Summer School in Innsbruck in 1976. The UNO-Innsbruck relationship initially was a bit asymmetrical, but it has grown organically over the years into a many-layered bilateral partnership. Indeed, one of the noteworthy attributes Center Austria’s coordination of the collaboration between UNO and the University of Innsbruck is not only the extent to which it has made Innsbruck one of the leading host cities for American students studying abroad in Austria, but also UNO one of the institutional hubs of Austrian academic mobility to the United States. What a great exchange!

Lonnie Johnson
Executive Director of the Austrian
Fulbright Commission

Center Austria: The Austrian Marshall Plan Center at the University of New Orleans today firmly stands as a bedrock of Austrian-American relations after its 20 years of service to the Austrian-American community. Its critical role as a facilitator of student and faculty exchanges, as a think tank, and as an academic and cultural hub has substantially contributed to the excellent relationship between Austria and the United States. Education and academic exchanges have always been cornerstones of public diplomacy, and Center Austria is a prime example for the critical role these programs play as part of a fruitful bilateral relationship.

Wolfgang Waldner
Ambassador of Austria to the United States

 The history of our Foundation is closely connected to this Center. It all started in May 1998, when Günter Bischof organized the conference “The Marshallplan in Austria” at UNO. Günter’s initiative and his formidable knowledge about America’s crucial role in the reconstruction of Post- WW II Austria were decisive in the set-up of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation in Vienna.

It was a token of Austria’s appreciation for Günter’s manifold contributions to U.S.-Austrian relations that the Foundation provided the funding of the UNO’s Marshallplan Anniversary Chair in Austrian Studies at the end of 1999. Since then, fifteen Austrian chairholders have given lectures and done research in New Orleans. Their areas of expertise span from diplomatic history to urban studies and international finance. We look forward to many more years of successful cooperation.

Wolfgang Petritsch
Ambassador and President of the Austrian Marshall PlanFoundation

 It gives me great pleasure to join Dr. Günter Bischof and many others in celebrating an important milestone in the remarkable journey of Center Austria at the University of New Orleans. As the center’s Founding Director, I joined others – at UNO and the University of Innsbruck – in providing a focal point for a host of collaborative activities following establishment of the UNO International Summer School in Innsbruck in 1976.

These activities were formalized in 1983 in a friendship treaty between the two universities that led to an ever growing exchange of faculty and students, symposia, and the launch of the Contemporary Austrian Studiesjournal – all culminating in the creation of Center Austria to sustain one of the great partnerships in international education. The journey continues – congratulations to all!

Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller
President & CEO
The National WWII Museum

For the past 26 years I have had the pleasure and honor to represent the Republic of Austria as its honorary consul. For the past 20 years, Center Austria has embodied the presence of Austria and furthered the cause of academic, cultural, and diplomatic exchanges in this region. Since the mid 1960s, my law firm, Deutsch Kerrigan LLP, has supported, and been home to, the Honorary Consulate.

My consular duties have been enriched by the Center's invitations to academic and civic events both in New Orleans and Austria. CA facilitated visits by numerous Austrian government officials including a former chancellor, Franz Vranitsky, several ministers and many ambassadors. Congratulations on 20 successful years!

Philip D. Lorio III
Honorary Consul General of Austria for Louisiana and Mississippi

For over 40 years now the stories of Innsbruck and New Orleans have become intensely intertwined because the International Summer School the University of New Orleans first started to organize in Innsbruck in 1976. Out of this summer school grew a friendship treaty between the two universities which led to an intense academic cooperation visible in the annual symposia since 1982 and joint publications. Moreover, hundreds of Innsbruck students and faculty have also studied and taught at the University of New Orleans.

With up to 80 students leaving Innsbruck for an exchange term every year, the partnership represents the most successful Austrian student exchange program with an American university. These students and faculty members return with lasting memories of Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and Halloween. Since 1997, Center Austria serves as the vital contact point for Innsbruck scholars and students who want to engage more intensely with the academic world of the USA and it has thus considerably contributed to the successful internationalization of the University of Innsbruck.

Christina Antenhofer
UNO-University of Innsbruck Friendship Treaty Coordinator

Center New Orleans opened its doors in 2010 as partnership office at the University of Innsbruck. Center New Orleans was established to support the Friendship Treaty Coordinator at UIBK and is coordinating all partnership activities, e.g. student and faculty exchange, as well as joint guest lectures, conferences and publications on the Innsbruck side.

Eva-Maria Fink
Center New Orleans Coordinator