A select group of MAAL students in the University’s M.A. in Applied Linguistics program are taking part in an innovative writing tutoring project that draws on the collective expertise of three different units: the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Hellenic American University Writing Center, and the M.A. in Applied Linguistics (MAAL) program.

The idea for the project, which has been developed Dr. Dimitris Tolias, who heads the MAAL and serves as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, is simple, even if its implementation, given the logistics of coordinating schedules across time zones, multiple instructors, and tight deadlines, isn’t. Graduate students enrol in the MAAL’s elective course in Writing Tutoring, where they learn about how a writing center works and what tutoring processes involve, and about how to apply these theoretical models and principles in tutoring writing. As part of the course, students complete 30 hours of supervised asynchronous personal writing tutoring. In this case—and this is what makes the project unique—they will be providing help to international MBA students at the Nashua, NH campus, under the direct supervision of Dr. Vassiliki Kourbani, the course instructor and Director of the University’s Writing Center.

The new initiative serves a dual purpose. On the one hand, it marshals coursework, its supervised practicum, and certification opportunities to advance the personal and professional development of the MAAL students as language practitioners and teachers. On the other hand, and at a very practical level, the initiative will provide individualized assistance to international MBA students in Nashua on their writing assignments.

Dr. Tolias says he is thrilled about the project, and the benefits it offers for the graduate students taking the course. He points out that the course serves as a pathway for students to earn an internationally respected credential in academic tutoring and student support: the College Reading & Learning Association (CRLA) Certification.

At the same time, the course will be an opportunity for the international students in the project to experience first-hand the usefulness of consulting expert help for their academic writing, something Dr. Kourbani says will come in handy later when the same students are faced with the challenges of a demanding capstone project.

For Dr. Tolias, the project is not just about tutoring writing. It is also a way, he says, “for participants to interact with our international students, gain insights into their diverse cultures, and broaden their own global perspective as teachers and individuals.” He is convinced that the course can be a “transformative experience” in the MAAL students’ professional journey.

The new project follows on the heels of similar initiatives designed to integrate student support services more seamlessly across campuses and modalities. One such effort is the annual series of spring online workshops and winter onsite trainings that Dr. Tolias conducts with Nashua students on topics such as the University's digital platforms, effective studying, and understanding instructor feedback. In fact, it was during these workshops that Dr. Tolias realized that the students in his sessions would appreciate and benefit from the support writing tutors could provide.

Image: Nashua MBA students at Dr. Tolias’s recent workshop.

The Director of the University’s Career Development Office (CDO), Domniki Diamantopoulou, has just wound up a marathon round of calls to recent graduates to gather information on the employment profile of the Class of 2023. In the end, she managed to speak to 55% of recent graduates; information on the employment status on the remaining graduates was gathered through LinkedIn research and the directors of the alumni’s degree program. Overall, the CDO was able to confirm the employment profile of 87% of the graduating class of 2023.

The findings for these alumni are encouraging. More than 90% are working or pursuing graduate studies or internships. Specifically, 64% are employed in companies or organizations and an additional 17% are self-employed. About 9% of graduates are pursuing full-time studies or internships.

Behind these summary numbers, however, is a more nuanced picture of graduates’ diverse career paths. Some found work soon after graduation, as in the case of Alzahraa Muneer Sabri Al-Haddad (BSE ’20, MSI ’23), who began work as a Youth Analyst for the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq in August 2023. Others had been working before graduation but found new employment opportunities, such as Christos Anestis Moraitis (BSI ’23), who took up a new position in September 2023 as a software developer for cybersecurity for the Secura Bureau Veritas in the Netherlands, and Konstantinos Topintzis (MBA ’23, MSSM ’23), who has continued his work as a medical sales representative but in a new company this year with ISOPLUS. Still other graduates secured a promotion from their current employer shortly before or after graduation. Christos Pavlogiannis (MSSM ’23), for example, was promoted in March 2023 to Sales Manager and Head of Non-Delivered Trade at Diversey Hellas. Still other alumni/ae are working in positions they had before their studies, or like Konstantinos Sarantos (MBA ’23), a senior account executive at the IBM spinoff Kyndryl, after starting their degree program at the University.

Other graduates finished up an internship or job assignment and went on to pursue graduate studies, like Sidra Ashgar (BAELL ’23), who left her position as an interpreter for the National Center for Social Solidarity to begin an MA in Criminal Justice and Intelligence at the University of Portsmouth this January. Another success story is Eleni Barmpouni (BSBA ’23), who has just completed the internship she began after graduation as a junior marketeer for Karamolegos Bakery and will begin studies this January for an MA in Marketing Management at the University of Bologna.

The CDO Director’s phone calls allowed her to check in with the new alumni/ae individually and remind them of the career counseling and job placement services that they have free access to as graduates, such as guidance in career planning, help in writing their resume, and the newsletter with job postings and internship opportunities. It is also an opportunity to gain insight into graduates’ plans to seek recognition of professional equivalence of their degree by the Greek Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, another area in which the CDO can help alumni navigate. Information was also gathered on graduates’ civil and community engagement; about 10% of recent graduates do volunteer work in addition to their work or studies.

In addition to the phone survey, which is done each year with the new graduating class, the University also updates biannually the employment profile of alumni from previous years through online questionnaires and LinkedIn research. During the last update in 2022 the CDO was able to confirm the employment status of 74% of all alumni. Of these, 94% were employed, self-employed, or pursuing graduate studies.

Image: Captured by Edmond Dantès, downloaded from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/el-gr/photo/4342496/

Hellenic American University is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the 4th International Europe in Discourse Conference, which will be held on September 26-28, 2024.

As in its three successful predecessors in 2018, 2020, and 2022, the year’s conference will explore discourses of Europe through its history, culture, geography and values. It aims to serve as an international, interdisciplinary platform to discuss how Europe is understood and shaped through a plethora of aspects that can be theoretically approached and empirically identified.

EID IV also remains faithful to the conviction that there should be a dialogue between those who talk about Europe and analyze it and those who “do” Europe and shape it. The Conference is therefore an open call to political analysts, communication experts, diplomacy and security experts, public leaders, historians, economists and policymakers from a variety of fields to engage with the Conference themes and submit a contribution along the formats accepted.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

Michał Krzyżanowski
Professor and Director of Research at the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism
Chair in Media and Communication Studies
Uppsala University

Federico Romero
Visting Fellow
Department of History and Civilization - European University Institute

Vivien A. Schmidt
Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration
Professor of International Relations, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
Professor of Political Science
Boston University

Ruth Wodak
Distinguished Professor and Chair in Discourse Studies
Lancaster University/University Vienna

For more details, consult the Conference website and the Call for Papers.

Image: Ludon-Medoc, France. Ludon Vinery, photo: ©Arthur Pequin.

The Summer 2023 issue of Connect is now being emailed to University alumni and can be downloaded here. In this issue, we highlight several signature events that took place this past semester, with a focus on prominent alumni who returned to our Athens campus to share their expertise with our community.

President Leonidas Phoebus Koskos provides an update on our accreditor’s decision to accept the University’s Interim Fifth-Year Report and the steps we are taking to bring the Nashua and Athens communities even closer together.

This issue’s Alumni Success Story features Christian Moraitis (BSI ’23), who is now living in the Netherlands and working for a large IT firm. Christian shares his experience with the BSI program and how it has shaped his successful career. Our Faculty Spotlight features Panagiote (Pete) Tsolis, the Director of our Business Programs.

Finally, as always, we share recent news of our faculty and fellow alumni’s accomplishments – from new publications and conference talks to career advancements.

Hellenic American University was pleased to co-organize and host the 22nd consecutive year of the Olympia Summer Academy July 11-14 at its campus in Athens. A total of 57 undergraduate and graduate students from 10 countries took part in the Academy’s series of specialized courses in politics and international studies. This year’s program comprised three cycles of 4-day intensive workshops: Global Discord and Cooperation, Terrorism and Counterterrorism, and The Rise of China: Domestic and Global Perspectives. The courses were taught by an international, 11-member faculty of prominent scholars and practitioners.

Joining the University in co-organizing this year's Academy were the European International Studies Association, the Institute of International Relations, and the Navarino Network. The summer program was made possible thanks tthe generous support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Greece and Cyprus) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation Greece.

Image: Faculty & students of the 22nd Summer Olympia Academy

Photo Gallery

2

1

Hellenic American University and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America have announced the formation of a partnership to facilitate educational opportunities in the U.S. and Greece. The scope of this cooperative initiative, as outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on March 22, 2023, includes the development of opportunities for study abroad, civic engagement, and faculty and student exchange.

In a recent letter sent to 500 parishes across the US, the Archdiocese noted that the study-abroad options include both semester- or term-study and faculty-led programs on aspects of Greek culture, religion, and heritage. As University Executive Vice-President and CFO Dr. Leonidas Tzonis points out, the latter could take the form of small parish-based groups of college students, who would travel to the University’s Athens campus at Hellenic American College for a series of custom-designed credit-bearing courses. The University is also planning to offer the option of summer Advanced Placement courses for high-school seniors.

As an early step in establishing the partnership, the University’s Director of Business Programs and assistant professor Pete Tsolis delivered a workshop for high school and college students in the 46th annual Faith Dance Fellowship Festival, which was held in Phoenix, Arizona this past February. During the festival, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros announced the offer of ten scholarships to members of the Greek American community for study in Athens.

Image at the top: Pete Tsolis, Director of Business Programs with students at the FDF Festival.

Inside image: His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and University Executive Vice President and CFO Dr. Leonidas Tzonis.

Edla Priyadharshini (MBA ’23) is one of five MBA students doing a practicum this summer in the framework of the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) program. Edla is working under TechAlpha LLC for Delta Airlines.

The CPT is a formal internship, cooperative education, or other type of required placement or practicum that sponsoring employers offer through a cooperative agreement with the student’s university. The practicum is a component for students in the STEM-focused MBA program with a specialization in Management Information Systems.

Edla reports that her particular CPT is focused on learning new technologies and interacting with the senior development team of business analysts, SCRUM masters, and application developers. She says she see direct connections between what she studied in her degree program and her practicum: “The CPT has helped me gain real-time experience of concepts and technologies I’ve been learning during my MBA program. I’ve found the courses I took in Functional Skills Integration, HR Management and Strategy, and IT Management and Strategy very helpful in my practicum now.” In turn, she adds, “my experience now will help in my upcoming course on Systems Analysis and Design and certainly for my capstone project.”

Hellenic American University is pleased to be co-organizing and hosting the 22nd biennial conference of the International Lawrence Durrell Society (ILDS) On Miracle Ground XXII on July 4 – 6, 2024 at its campus in Athens.

• Download the conference poster (.png, 7.73 MB)
• View the Call for Papers (.pdf, 223.0 KB)

Keynote speaker for this year’s conference is Dr. Marinos Pourgouris, Associate Professor of Literary Theory and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Cyprus. The conference theme, as noted in the Call for Papers published on the ILDS website, is “Dark” Durrell. While the conference organizers welcome papers on any aspect of Durrell’s writing and that of his contemporaries or milieu, they particularly encourage consideration of the theme of darkness.

Founded in 1980, the ILDS is a non-profit organization that promotes the study, understanding, and appreciation of the works of Lawrence Durrell through scholarly conferences and publications, among which a critical bibliography and the journal Deus Loci. The annual Durrell research panels, as well as the biennial international conference, attract a great number of Durrell scholars. The biennial conferences in particular remain a high point in the Society’s program of events and activities and have been held at institutions such as the Paris Nanterre University, the University of Crete, and the University of Toulouse.

Bringing the 2024 conference to Hellenic American University’s Athens campus was an idea of ILDS board member and recipient of the William Godshalk Prize for new Durrell scholarship, Dr. Athanasios Dimakis, who is also an adjunct faculty member in the University’s B.A. in English Language and Literature (BAELL) program. After sharing his idea with the director of the BAELL program, Dr. Vassiliki Kourbani, and securing her enthusiastic support, Dr. Dimakis presented his proposal at a meeting of the executive board of the Durrell Society in Louisville, Kentucky, where it was unanimously accepted.

Dr. Dimakis describes the hosting of the conference at the University’s campus as a kind of “homecoming” for this international society of scholars and academics. In his words, “the centrality of the Hellenic world in Durrell’s oeuvre and his prominence in the Anglophone literary canon on Hellenism unite the intellectual endeavors and the noble spirit of both institutions.”

Image: Part of the Conference Poster

MBA student Sri Subhakar Ganapuram has been accepted to the summer 2023 Iacocca Global Village program at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Sri joins fellow students and young professionals from around the globe in an intensive 5-week residency program of workshops, design challenges and service-learning projects that is designed to develop participants’ interdisciplinary teamwork and entrepreneurship skills. Several workshops combine classroom instruction with field outings to nearby places of historical or cultural interest.

Roughly 65-75 candidates from 35-45 countries are accepted to the Global Village program each year. In selecting candidates for admission, the Institute looks for individuals who combine academic excellence with a record of professional accomplishments and leadership experience.

Sri says of his experience: “The Iacocca Global Village Program is renowned for emphasizing experiential learning and cultural immersion. It gave me the chance to broaden my perspective on the world, improve my intercultural competence, and comprehend global challenges better.”

Before joining Hellenic American University in 2021, Sri worked for Lucent E-Commerce as a senior product development manager. Now in his final semester of his MBA program, Sri has been a highly engaged member of the student community and serves as both vice-president of the Hellenic American University Entrepreneurship Club and vice-president of the Student Body Council for the Nashua campus.

Hellenic American University’s 13th commencement was held on June 29, 2023, at the Athens Concert Hall (Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall). Friends, family, and distinguished guests joined faculty, staff, executive officers, and trustees of Hellenic American University to celebrate the 74 members of the graduating Class of 2023.

Valedictory addresses were given by Angeliki Georgaki, (M.A. in Applied Linguistics-TESOL) and Sofia Votsiou (B.S. in Psychology). The salutatorians for the Class of 2023 were Jeffrey Scott Basile (MBA), and Despoina Simitsoglou (B.S. in Psychology).

As in past commencements, the University conferred honorary degrees to individuals who have distinguished themselves through achievements in the arts or sciences, education, public service, or philanthropy. This year the University awarded two honorary doctorates: one to Eleftherios Skiadas, a journalist and historian with a long record of public service, including his current tenure as vice mayor and President of the Cultural Foundation of the City of Athens; the other to Dr. Eric Smaw, a philosopher, educator, and civil rights advocate who serves on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union. Dr. Smaw is Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy at Rollins College, where he also serves as Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

In his commencement address, President Leonidas Phoebus Koskos pointed out that the new graduates were entering their professional life in a world that is rapidly being changed by the astonishing advances in artificial intelligence and new work environments. He encouraged them to draw upon the critical thinking and innovative mindset their education has equipped them with to meet the challenges in a creative and productive way and called upon them to embrace their role as global citizens and contribute to the development of their communities.

After the close of the ceremony, a reception followed where graduates celebrated this milestone with their professors, loved ones, and friends.

Congratulations to all our graduates!

Image: Hellenic American University – Graduating Class of 2023

Photo Gallery

Jim 1983 2

Jim 2576 2

Ms6 5683 2

Abb 0494 2

Abb 0958 2

Abb 0802 2