(Posted April 3, 2001)

Katerina Vajdova, executive director of the Academia Istropolitana Nova (AINova) in the Slovak Republic, will be Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow at Juniata College during the week of April 15 through April 21. During her visit, Vajdova will speak on the development of independent media in post-communist countries Monday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in 402 Good Hall on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Vajdova's visit is made possible through a grant from the German Marshall Fund of the United States to the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The German Marshall Fund was established in 1972 by a gift from the Federal Republic of Germany to honor American postwar assistance under the Marshall Plan.

Vajdova has been executive director of AINova since 1999. The group is an independent Slovakian institution that provides postgraduate research and educational opportunities that relate to the needs of Slovakia and other Central and Eastern European countries. A resident of Bratislava, Slovakia, she has been a professional journalist or academic journalist for most of her career.

Before coming to AINova, Vajdova was the director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Bratislava from 1993 to 1999 and worked as general manager of Radio Ragtime in Slovakia from 1991 to 1993. She worked as a junior and senior lecturer in journalism at Comenius University in Bratislava from 1978 to 1991.

She earned a college degree in journalism from St. Petersburg University in Russia in 1978 and went on to earn a doctoral degree in journalism from Comenius University. She has studied in programs at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., the University of Wales in Cardiff, Wales, and at the BBC World Service in London, England.

The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program was established to encourage the flow of ideas between the academic and non-academic sectors of society and to connect a liberal education with the world beyond college campuses. The Foundation matches the interests of the colleges with the experience and availability of the fellows. The Foundation then helps the colleges to design a weeklong program of classroom visits, lectures, panels, seminars, workshops and informal discussions.

The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program brings leaders in their fields to the campuses of small liberal arts colleges for a week of classes, informal discussions with students and faculty, and career counseling.

Visiting fellows are matched with liberal arts colleges chosen for their commitment to the goals of the program. Fellows are scheduled for formal presentations in classrooms, panels, and public platforms as well as informal encounters at meals, in student centers, clubs, dormitories, career counseling and individual sessions.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has developed and conducted programs in higher education since 1945. Nearly 200 colleges have participated in the Visiting Fellows program since 1973.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.