Established in 1977, the Center for Austrian Studies is the Western Hemisphere's oldest and best-known multidisciplinary research center devoted to the historical and contemporary experience of Austria and Central Europe.
Mission
- To play an international leadership role in promoting new scholarship about Austria and Central Europe across disciplines in the humanities, the social sciences, international business management, and the fine arts;
- To disseminate scholarship through international conferences and a robust publication program;
- To connect scholars, students, and an international community to resources in Austria, Central Europe, the EU, and Minnesota;
- To reach out to students, scholars, and an international community of educated nonacademics, bringing an awareness of Austria and the new Europe and its relevance to American life;
- To enrich the university’s and the college’s teaching mission by connecting the research and outreach programs it initiates with classroom opportunities for CLA students.
The Center pursues its mission through a variety of activities including research projects, publications, international interdisciplinary symposia, student and faculty exchanges, scholarships, and outreach events for both students and the Twin Cities community.
History
The Center for Austrian Studies has its origin in the decision by Austrian government officials to use the American Bicentennial as an occasion to thank the United States for its political and economic support after 1945. On the suggestion of several Austrians and Americans, including the Center's founding director William E. Wright, the government decided to give $1 million to an American university for the purpose of promoting Austrian Studies in the United States. Half the sum was to be raised from the public sale of $3 "American Bicentennial Star" decals; the other half was to be contributed by the Austrian government. The Austrian public's response to the appeal was so enthusiastic that the goal was surpassed by $200,000, and the government matched the entire amount raised from the public.
Among the fifteen universities competing for the gift were some of America's finest educational institutions. The University of Minnesota was chosen over the other two finalists, Yale and Stanford, for several reasons: its existing faculty strength in Central and Eastern Europe, its location in the American heartland among a population with substantial German-speaking ancestry, and its status as a first-rate public university, which made it a natural partner for the public universities of Austria. The University of Minnesota was awarded $1 million to endow the Center for Austrian Studies, and the gift was presented in person by Chancellor Bruno Kreisky on March 16, 1977. The excess $400,000 was given to Stanford to establish a chair for visiting Austrian scholars.
The Center's mission is to serve as a focal point in the United States for the study of Austria in disciplines across the humanities, the social sciences, the applied sciences, and the fine arts. Under the terms of the endowment, the Center is a non-degree-granting unit administered by the College of Liberal Arts. Although it has cultivated formal ties with Austrian universities, it has no formal ties to the Austrian government. It does cooperate with Austrian governmental agencies and relies on some of them (especially the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York) for program funding. The Center does have a formal relationship with the Society for Austrian and Habsburg History (SAHH); SAHH membership is defined by the subscriber list of the Austrian History Yearbook.
The Center's founding director, William E. Wright (left), served from 1977-1988. He pursued the Center's mission by organizing an annual symposium, lectures, seminars, exhibitions, and community events. In addition, Wright brought R. John Rath and the Austrian History Yearbook to Minnesota after Rath retired from Rice University, and the Center became its publisher.
After Wright's tenure, a period of transition followed under two interim directors, Kinley Brauer (right) and Richard L. Rudolph. The former established the Austrian Studies Newsletter.
In 1989, David F. Good (left) joined the University of Minnesota Department of History and was appointed the Center's new director in January 1990. During his tenure, the Center moved to new quarters, expanded its programs and staff, formalized relationships with the Universities of Graz, Salzburg, and Vienna, and facilitated a joint research project between researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Vienna.
In March 1996, Good stepped down and Richard L. Rudolph (right), former interim director, became director. His most impressive achievement was the massive international symposium, "Creating the Other: The Causes and Dynamics of Nationalism, Ethnic Enmity, and Racism in Central and Eastern Europe." Nearly sixty prominent scholars from around the world participated in perhaps the Center's most interdisciplinary and best-attended symposium; it caught the attention of intellectuals and publishers alike.
In July 1999, Gerhard Weiss (left), emeritus professor of German, became interim director. Weiss has had a long association with the Center (he served on the CLA dean's advisory board from 1978-1994 [1978-1985 as chair]). While interim director, he initiated a series of crossdisciplinary spring miniconferences and negotiated an agreement to establish an Austrian Fulbright Visiting Professorship at the University of Minnesota.
In the fall of 2000, an international search was undertaken to find a new permanent director for CAS. In September 2001, Gary Cohen (right) joined the University of Minnesota's history faculty and has become the Center's fifth director. Cohen has established closer ties with the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies at the University of Alberta, as well as several of the other research centers at the University of Minnesota. The Center has cosponsored three international symposia with the Wirth Institute. The Center's book series with Berghahn Books, "Austrian and Habsburg Studies," has been expanded, and Cohen has also joined Charles Ingrao, Professor of History at Purdue University, in editing the series "Central European Studies," published with Purdue University Press, making possible the expansion of that series as well.
In spring semester 2006, Cohen took a one-semester sabbatical and former CAS director David Good returned as acting director.
Annual Reports
2006-07 (PDF)
2005-06 (PDF)
2004-05 (PDF)
2003-04 (PDF)
2002-03 (PDF)