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Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt

September 10, 1923–September 2, 2010

Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, recipient of CEU’s second Honorary Doctorate, passed away in his home in Jerusalem on 2 September, 2010.

On 30 August 2010 the exhibition “Restoration on the Occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Second Vienna Award” was opened at the Open Society Archives, CEU. The purpose of the exhibition is to present the contemporary reception to the restoration of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary: the reactions to the act in both countries, as well as its longer term consequences.

On July 28, Andreas Wilke, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Clarkson University, held a seminar at the Cognitive Development Center (CDC) about the evolution of decision making. As Wilke explained, the essence of the discussion was, “The human mind is filled with evolved decision mechanisms designed to meet adaptively important goals. The seminar outlined a framework for studying those mechanisms from an evolutionary cognitive psychology perspective, which emphasizes the role of the environment in shaping organisms' decision strategies.

On July 22-23 the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS), the Department of Political Science and the Department of Philosophy, organized an international conference entitled “Democracy and Legitimacy: Dealing with Extremism.” The Open Society Justice Initiative, in cooperation with the International Senior Lawyers Project and the International Media Lawyers Association, provided additional support for the conference.

On July 14, Central European University together with the Embassy of the United States in Budapest hosted US Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at an event entitled “Roundtable Discussion on Judical Reform Issues.” Justice Kennedy participated in the roundtable discussion on Hungarian judicial reform and its implications on judicial independence, together with representatives of the judiciary, civil society and academics. The discussion was moderated by Karoly Bard, Pro-Rector, Hungarian and EU Affairs, CEU.

24 June 2010: Central European University (CEU), Budapest, announced the appointment of Peter Johnson, as Vice-President, Student Services, effective 1 September 2010. Johnson completes a highly successful 10-year tenure as Executive Director of Admissions, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. He joins CEU’s internationally acknowledged Student Services unit to lead and strengthen it at a time when the University is planning to significantly expand both its programs and its global outreach. CEU currently enrolls students from more than 120 countries.

Martin Bell, OBE was a BBC foreign affairs reporter and "war correspondent" and reported on wars and conflicts for 30 years. He became an independent politician and was elected as an MP in 1997. Recently he authored the book "A Very British Revolution: The Expenses Scandal and How to Save Our Democracy".

He was a teacher on the Integrity in Political Society Summer University course, offering a session on "Taking a Stand for Integrity from the Inside".