Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies
; "Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies")
In 1998, the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Sciences, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Austrian Conference of University Presidents initiated establishment of the Canadian Centre for Austrian and Central European Studies at the University of Alberta. The Governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia later added their support to the Institute.
The Institute was renamed Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies in recognition of the generous endowment it received from Dr Manfred and Mr Alfred Wirth. Dr Manfred Wirth and his son, Alfred, were both born in Vienna, Austria and immigrated to Canada. The Wirth family believes in the importance of studying the history, society, and culture of the Central European region and of maintaining strong and vital links between Canada and Central Europe. Their endowment has enabled generations of scholars and students to study the cultural legacy of Central Europeans and to ensure that this heritage is not forgotten.
The Wirth Institute operates with a mandate to raise the profile of Central Europe and Central European Studies in Canada and to act in a leadership role in a network of cooperation in this field with other Canadian universities. The Institute's activities include organizing and sponsoring lectures, conferences, artistic festivals, symposia, exhibits, and other scholarly and cultural events. The Wirth Institute strives to have the University of Alberta recognized as the leading centre for Central European Studies in Canada.
The Wirth Institute also works with the embassies of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia and with the University of Alberta Libraries to create and maintain an outstanding resource centre for Central European Studies for use by scholars and students throughout North America. In 2007, the University of Alberta Library was among the five leading libraries in the field of Central European Studies in North America and its entire collection included over 10 million items. These include the famous "Priesterseminar" library of the Archbishop of Salzburg and the library of the former Viennese Juridisch-Politischer Leseverein. University of Alberta Libraries also has a series of rare historical maps of Central Europe that are not available anywhere else in North America.
Numerous leading scholars are involved with the Wirth Institute. These include:
- Franz A.J. Szabo, Director of the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies, historian of Austria and the Habsburg monarchy
- David Gramit, Department of Music, Schubert scholar
- Marianne Henn, Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, editor of the new edition of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's works
- John-Paul Himka, Department of History and Classics, historian of Austrian Galicia
- Bernard Linsky, Department of Philosophy
- Waclaw Osadnik, Film Studies, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, European cinema, Polish language and culture
- Alexander Rueger, Department of Philosophy
- Derek Sawyer, Department of Sociology, modern Czechs
Also affiliated with the Wirth Institute are emeriti professors such as:
- Frederick C. Engelmann, former President of the Canadian Political Science Association
- Tom Priestly, Canada's leading Slovene scholar and translator of France Preseren
- Manfred Prokop, one of Canada's leading experts on the teaching of German as a second language
To find out more about the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies, please visit its website.