AUBG Today magazine, Summer 2012

The Magazine of the American University in Bulgaria

Issue 48, Summer 2012

AUBG

: An Academic Leader

In this issue: The AUBG Advantage

Farewell, Class of 2012!

Academic Programs

New MSc in Software Engineering

Editorial Board Pavlina Stoycheva Sylvia Zareva Albena Kehayova

The Magazine of the American University in Bulgaria

Issue 48, Summer 2012

AuBG

: An AcAdemIc LeAder

In thIs Issue: The AUBG Advantage

Farewell, Class of 2012!

Academic Programs

New MSc in Software Engineering

Copyright 2012 AUBG. All rights reserved.

Writers Ayna Pirkuliyeva Daria Glukhova Darya Yanitskaya Ksenia Lukanova Veselina Apostolova Yoana Savova

and a special thank you to

all faculty contributors Photographers Alexander Acosta Osorio Asen Dimitrov Denitsa Gospodinova Diana Murzac Galina Fedulova Pavel Ivanov Stanislav Hristov Yanita Mircheva

and a special thank you to

Valentin Croitoru Published by AUBG with the participation of AUBG students. For more information, please see the contact information on the back.

Contents: The AUBG Advantage 02 Our Academic Departments 04 Đ?rts, Languages, and Literature 04 Business 09 Computer Science 15 Economics 21 History and Civilizations 30 Journalism and Mass Communication 35 Mathematics and Science 40

Politics and European Studies

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News @ AUBG 49

The AUBG Advantage

By David Huwiler, AUBG President (2007 – 2012)

Last week I was in Dubai to attend the annual meeting of the presidents of American universities abroad. Each year, in addition to the meetings among presidents and chief academic officers, AAICU invites an outside presenter to talk about a subject of general interest to this group of senior university administrators. This year’s presentation was by Dr. Riel Miller, a well-known futurist and head of xperidox, a consulting firm that assists governments, military organizations, and academic institutions as they attempt to prepare their institutions for the future.

The AUBG Advantage

Miller provided the assembled presidents with some interesting tools and some new ways of thinking about the future. He explained how futurists use science and logic to define the limits of what is possible in the future and then to use that framework to produce strategic plans and allocate resources in ways that maximize the opportunities for success.

But in the end, there were few answers to the key questions facing higher education planners. Higher education, it seems, presents a particularly complicated puzzle for futurists, as both the aims and the methods seem to be in a state of rapid and unpredictable flux. What role will technology play in higher education in 2050?

Will traditional libraries – or even campuses – be obsolete? Will a way be found to combine the efficiency of online learning with the personal attention that students expect at traditional liberal arts campuses? What will graduates need to know in 2050, and what skills will they need in order to succeed? Will a university education prepare a student to lead a satisfying and fulfilling life as well as to achieve professional success?

The truth is, we don’t know what the most important 02

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fields of employment will be in 2050. We don’t know whether the skills that a student might learn in a class on computer chip architecture will be marketable even five years from now. The most important questions about the future are both unknown and unknowable.

Even after we have firmly defined the parameters of the possible, we can imagine an infinite variety of alternate futures.

But as we discussed the presentation among presidents later in the day, what none of us could imagine was a future in which the knowledge and skills that liberal arts institutions provide will not be useful and in demand.

Indeed, the core skills that a liberal arts education provides are more important today than they were a century ago, and they will be even more important still in 2050. For centuries, the goal of a liberal arts education has been to produce graduates who can do three things:

Think critically

A liberal arts education cultivates a habit of mind that leads students to challenge unsupported assertions, to question what they are told, to approach the world with a healthy skepticism. It is an attitude that makes them valuable employees, skilled problem solvers, successful scientists, and responsible citizens.

Adapt to change

Among the many unknowns, there is one certainty: the pace of change is increasing, and the pace of change continues to accelerate. Those who are trained to respond thoughtfully and creatively to unexpected new realities will succeed.

Continue to learn

The very specific knowledge that one acquires in a university in order to pursue a specific career will have an increasingly short half-life and will continue to diminish in importance. More important will be the capacity to assimilate new information as it replaces that which has become obsolete. A liberal arts education provides the tools to learn independently and to make use of the flood of new information with which we are confronted in the contemporary world.

The results that we see at AUBG confirm the view that a quality American liberal arts education provides the most effective preparation for a career in today’s chal-

lenging employment markets. According to the most recent university rankings by Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education, AUBG graduates earn more than three times the salaries of graduates from other national institutions.

Each year at our annual job fair, representatives from scores of employers come to AUBG for the opportunity to hire our graduates. Often they tell us that they don’t care about the major of the employees they hire. They are just as willing to hire an AUBG history major as a graduate with a technical background. They want people who can solve problems, who can think critically, and AUBG’s graduates meet that need.

The future will be full of surprises. AUBG’s graduates will be prepared to deal with them.

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The AUBG Advantage

Even today, people change careers more than three times on average. Someone who has spent four or more years studying a narrow specialty will be lost when that specialty becomes obsolete. But liberally trained graduates will have learned how to anticipate change and how to use it to advantage.

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Аrts, Languages, and Literature Department

Shakespeare, Mozart, and Murray: Expand Your Horizons with an ALL Minor

Department Overview Over 60 courses Interdisciplinary major in American Studies (with History and Civilizations) Minors in Fine Arts, Literature, American Studies

20 faculty with prestigious degrees from Brown University, University of Notre Dame, and others

You want to act in a play, learn to play an instrument, or become a better writer even as you are preparing for a career in business or politics? The Department of Arts, Languages, and Literature has it all. From American Jazz to medieval English literature, you will be exposed to the finest achievements of humanity’s creative genius.

Arts, Languages, and Literature

The arts and the humanities are at the core of a liberal arts education, fostering students’ skills in writing, critical thinking and analysis as well as developing creativity and imagination. These skills are not restricted to students who wish to pursue a career in the arts but are essential characteristics of graduates from an American liberal arts university.

The Department offers a unique interdisciplinary major in American Studies in collaboration with the Department of History and Civilizations and minors in Fine Arts, Literature, and American Studies. The Department also offers courses in Bulgarian, French, German, and Spanish, which support the European Studies major by providing proficiency in one official EU language other than English.

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·· · · · · · · · ··

AUBG has an internationally recognized choir.

AUBG hosts the biannual International Festival “Meeting of Student Choirs.”

The annual Spring Artfest includes exhibitions, musical recitals, dance and theater performances.

The annual Language and Culture Week includes presentations, traditional songs, dances, and food from Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, and France.

The female folklore ensemble Svetlina has performers from Bulgaria, Russia, the United States, and Kazakhstan.

The Bulgarian Poets and Writers series hosts readings by noted writers.

Students publish their creative writing in the annual magazine Fly in the Head.

Students and professors regularly present their work at the AUBG Annual Research Conference.

The Department hosts a number of student clubs including the Spanish club, the German club, the Club Francophone, and the Literary Society.

More than 30 theater plays are staged annually.

AUBG students stage a world-famous musical every year. Past productions include Chicago, West Side Story, Hairspray, Moulin Rouge, and Grease.

Did you know that

50 published books, more than 78 journal articles

Nedyalko Delchev Nedyalko Delchev is an artist, theater director, painter, playwright, and drama professor. He has directed and acted in numerous theater productions and appeared in two films.

I don’t imagine myself as Teacher. The best I can imagine is to be a helper to my young friends in their attempt of self-study. I hope I facilitate the process of sharing in class. I hope I encourage some of them to be brave enough and fight for their dreams… To discover the greatest of all pleasures – work. To work inspired, not consulting the chronometer, not counting what you did and what the others did. To do. To be… Homo faber.

Lynnette Leonard teaches writing and composition classes at AUBG. She is the author of two survival guides on speaker-audience communication.

Teaching and learning are collaborative, interactive, and reflective processes for both the teacher and the student. My role is that of a bridge; connecting what they bring to the classroom with the theory and skills I teach. Connecting to students’ lives and current issues, along with an interactive classroom setting, helps them reach even higher achievements. I particularly enjoy teaching composition courses because they help students create a strong foundation in critical thinking and communication that will serve them well throughout the rest of their coursework and beyond.

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Arts, Languages, and Literature

Lynnette Leonard

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Geoffrey Dean

Arts, Languages, and Literature

Geoffrey Dean is the author of three books on music and a cellist who has performed all over Europe and the United States.

Musical creativity is one of the unifying aspects of the AUBG experience. It’s happening every day, all over the campus, in Fine Arts classes, in student clubs and productions, in regular guest performances and festivals.

These shared musical experiences both reflect and transcend our diverse backgrounds and interests. Because it helps define us as individuals and as members of this learning community, music brings us closer together and leads us toward higher planes of meaning. Teaching music at AUBG has revealed to me a multitude of individual perspectives as students from a fascinating variety of cultural backgrounds converge in my classroom, offering unique learning opportunities for all of us as we seek new ways of experiencing, understanding, and interpreting the world.

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Zaira Fandiño Lopez Zaira Fandiño Lopez teaches Spanish at AUBG. The most important and motivating aspects of my work at AUBG are the multicultural groups and the approach proposed by the ALL Department for teaching Spanish. Multicultural groups greatly enrich the process of teaching a foreign language. In such groups, based on the different experiences of each member, it is much easier to build bridges of respect and communication between cultures. Moreover, the ALL Department’s approach involves speaking Spanish in lectures from the very first day and using materials and activities that are constantly being updated.

ALL Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Economics, Business Administration Outstanding Achievement Award in German Petya will pursue a master’s degree in Economics at the University of Cologne, Germany, on a full scholarship by the Mummert Foundation.

Petya Mihaylova, Bulgaria

I am very happy to have been able to benefit from the quality of an AUBG education. The opportunity to interact and get to know students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds is, alongside with its academic quality, AUBG’s greatest competitive advantage compared to other universities in the region. The ability to ask questions and participate in class discussions is one of the most valuable learning experiences.

Majors: Political Science/International Relations,

European Studies Outstanding Achievement Award in Spanish Filip will pursue a master’s degree at KU Leuven in Belgium, the world’s oldest Catholic university.

The international community, inspiring yet challenging professors, and the American model of education are the University’s main advantages. Smaller-size classes offer easy access to the instructor, which encouraged me to participate in class and helped me learn. AUBG provided me with solid theoretical and practical knowledge, irreplaceable experience gained through internships, and an overall personal progress. All these represent a solid foundation for further professional or academic development.

Filip Dobrovic, Montenegro

Outstanding Achievement Award in Vocal Music Aleksandar will intern for Atos, Europe’s biggest IT services company, and the Summer 2012 Olympics in London, UK.

Aleksandar Nestorov, Bulgaria

AUBG provided me with solid foundations in Business Administration and Information Systems and allowed me to explore a variety of elective courses that supplemented my understanding and appreciation of my majors. Exposure to a variety of subjects will definitely aid me in taking advantage of the internship opportunity I will be pursuing this summer. I will be working in an IT company, yet my position will be predominantly business-oriented.

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Arts, Languages, and Literature

Majors: Business Administration, Information

Systems

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Ivailo Minov ‘01, Bulgaria I Didn’t Want to Lose Touch with the Student Inside Me A Fine Arts minor changed his life.

By Ayna Pirkuliyeva Ivailo Minov, Class of 2001, is a successful film director at Morning Glory Film, Ltd. in London, UK, juggling a variety of projects across the European continent. Just recently Ivailo completed a couple of commercials for Bulgarian mobile services provider M-Tel and is now working on finalizing the pilot episode for a culinary TV show that he directed in March. He is also applying to film festivals with two shorts completed over the last several months – one is a feature short, the other a documentary about a girl fighting cerebral palsy.

Today, Ivailo has a fulfilling profession, thanks in large part to his AUBG experience, he says. To benefit from their university experience the same way and identify their true calling, he advises current and future AUBG students to “take your time finding who you are and what you want, stay positive, and always try to channel your energy towards the good things, whatever they might be for you.”

Looking back at his professional journey, Ivailo says he had always felt the pull of his artistic calling – a calling the numerous Fine Arts classes he took at AUBG helped him discover. “I minored in Fine Arts, but in all honesty that was my true major program,” says Ivailo, who earned a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from AUBG. Ivailo’s involvement with the student show More Honors, specifically his role in producing a number of creative videos, introduced him to yet another form of artistic expression and helped him take his first steps in filmmaking.

Arts, Languages, and Literature

His decision to finally pursue his calling professionally had in many ways to do with the creation of the independent theater troupe “Kunkurigashtite Pemperugi,” consisting entirely of AUBG graduates. “We staged several plays in Sofia and Blagoevgrad, inspired above all by our stillstrong love for the experiences we had at AUBG,” Ivailo says. “We didn’t want to lose touch with the students inside us, we wanted to have something in our lives that gave us creative energy and made us laugh after a hard day’s work.”

Staying in touch with creativity in this way helped the future director realize he wanted a profession that kept him equally inspired. So in 2004 Ivailo quit his job as editor at lifestyle magazine EDNO and started working for MVM International, a film production company. At MVM, he occupied a variety of roles, including first and second assistant director, casting director, production assistant, and locations manager. This diverse experience helped establish his interest in directing.

In 2006 Ivailo was accepted to a one-year filmmaking course at the London Film Academy. After graduating from LFA, Ivailo went back to MVM International, this time as an in-house director. Since 2011, the young film director has divided his time between Bulgaria and the UK.

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Organizations our alumni work at include: KPMG

Leo Burnett Citibank

U.S. Marine Corps

The World Bank

Thomson Reuters

Philip Morris International

Harvard University Press L’Oreal

World Health Organization Coca-Cola

American Express Microsoft

Ogilvy & Mather Hewlett-Packard telerik ALL alumni have advanced degrees from:

Columbia University Carnegie Mellon University

New York University Boston University

University of Missouri University College London

University of Maine Central European University

Business Department You Enjoy a Standard of Living that King Henry VIII Could Not Have

To appreciate the value of a major in Business Administration, you first need to appreciate the value of business. Consider, for a moment, the impact that businesspeople have had on the world. We rarely pause to consider this issue, because more often than not we take businesspeople for granted. Yet, most of us would not be alive today if it were not for the work of those productive individuals who created the goods and services that have transformed our lives over the last several hundred years, significantly raising our standard of living, and more than doubling the average lifespan. Thanks to these individuals, famine and poverty, once assumed to be the normal state of human affairs throughout the world, are now regarded as evils that can be overcome.

Think about your own life. You might think of yourself as poor, but thanks to businesspeople, you enjoy a standard of living that King Henry VIII of England could not have dreamed of – from simple goods, such as tin cans and toilet paper, to recent technological advances, such as the Internet and smartphones. King Henry VIII, with all his wealth and power, could not have downloaded Greensleeves on iTunes, or chatted with Anne Boleyn on Skype.

If you choose to pursue a major in Business Administration, you will be following in the footsteps of those creative spirits who have improved the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet; people such as Thomas Edison (who founded 14 companies, including General Electric), Henry Ford (who founded the Ford motor company), Richard Branson (who founded Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic), Steve Jobs (who founded Apple), and many, many more, including our own business graduates, Vasil Terziev and Svetozar Georgiev (who founded telerik).

·

As part of a course on Entrepreneurship select business students have the opportunity to develop a business plan and start their own company, with financial support from Citibank and Junior Achievement Bulgaria.

Corporate Finance students go on trips to other countries, so that they can meet the senior management of local and international corporations.

Students and professors write about real-world case studies and publish their findings in prestigious journals.

The Business Department and the student-run Business Club hosted their first Assessment Center Simulation in spring 2012. Assessment Centers are used by major corporations to select candidates for jobs in their organization. The simulation helps prepare stu dents for the job market.

The Business Club hosts renowned business executives and policy-makers who share their experience at public meetings with students on campus.

The Department organizes case competitions for students majoring in Business Administration. The most recent competition was sponsored by Kraft Foods.

Students recently developed an online platform for their start-up e-commerce businesses. The platform is expected to meet the requirements of practical business scenarios and real-life situations.

The Department holds regular workshops on job interviewing to prepare students for the job market and for the specially organized annual Job Fair.

· · · · ·

Did you know that

Dreamed of Thanks to Businesspeople

· ·

How will you revolutionize the world?

Department Overview BA in Business Administration and Information Systems (together with Computer Science Department) and an Executive MBA

13 faculty with prestigious degrees from London Business School (UK), Boston University, George Washington University School of Business, California State University, University of Auckland (New Zealand)

26 published books, more than 160 journal articles

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Business

Business Administration is the most popular undergraduate major – over 40% of AUBG students major in business

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Students Pitch Business Ideas to Eminent Entrepreneurs at AUBG Story by Ayna Pirkuliyeva During a two-day conference, business angels and managers of leading Bulgarian companies shared their experience and counseled students on how to transform their ideas into successful businesses. Over 200 students attended the StartUP conference, held in Blagoevgrad on March 23-24, making it the largest business event in Southwest Bulgaria.

Business

Guest speakers included prominent Bulgarian IT leaders such as Lubomir Rusanov, general manager of Superhosting.bg; AUBG graduates Vassil Terziev and Svetozar Georgiev, co-founders of Bulgaria’s largest software company, telerik; and Anguel Anguelov-Mostuna, another AUBG alum and the founder and owner of three successful IT firms. Anguelov talked about his triumphs and falls and gave advice on how to stay motivated throughout the process of starting a new venture. The telerik founders related the story of how they networked their path to success.

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Leaders from the oil, banking, auditing, clothing, and business solutions industries also shared stories of accomplishment and inspiration. The event featured entrepreneurs whose unconventional business ideas brought them success, such as Emilia Begunova, whose company Adventure Net organizes and promotes outdoor recreation and extreme sports activities.

The conference’s crowning event, Elevator Pitch gave aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their business ideas to investors. A jury of business professionals had pre-screened the proposals and selected three finalists.

First-year AUBG student Sadi Qevani’s web hosting venture was among the selected projects. After the presentations, young entrepreneurs and veterans had a chance to discuss the projects in more detail.

Licensed by the StartUP Foundation, the conference was organized by students from AUBG and South-West University (SWU).

Veneta Andonova

Robert White teaches business ethics and philosophy.

His interests encompass social and moral philosophy, modern and contemporary political theory, and business ethics with an emphasis on moral excellence in business.

Veneta Andonova’s global experience includes teaching positions in Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. The business strategy professor is also the coordinator of an entrepreneurship program at AUBG.

As an academic, I am entrusted with the responsibility of training individual human minds, so that each student can articulate the ideas that he or she holds, and judge for him- or herself whether those ideas have a basis in reality. When I first came to AUBG, I expected to be here for a year. Four years later, I am still here.

A significant advantage of teaching at AUBG is that at other universities students are often indistinguishable faces in a crowded lecture theater; here, one has the opportunity to work one-on-one with individual students. This, however, is only an advantage because the students here are worth working with. With few exceptions, AUBG students are self-motivated individuals of high intellectual potential. Which is why I plan on staying for at least another four years.

Teaching at AUBG requires more flexibility and responsiveness to students, more personal contact with and more respect for their multiple curricular and extra-curricular activities. These traits make it a unique experience to me and force me into changing and creating new approaches to teaching. Student creativity and freedom of expression make this a very open and enjoyable place where feedback is generously provided and smart and hardworking students are willing to support even my weirdest research projects. The positive energy and the emotion of working with young people here fill me with enthusiasm and desire to help them find their place in the world outside AUBG and to bring in the outside world to admire their talents and skills.

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Business

Robert White

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Business

Alf Eastergard

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Lucia Miree

Alf Eastergard has extensive teaching experience at U.S. universities. He is the author of a book about accounting principles and the creator of a website with practical accounting tutorials.

Lucia Miree is a seasoned business professional and scholar with experience in the service and production industries. She teaches classes in organizational behavior and human resource management.

Students are young professionals with just a few years less training and experience than I have. I approach them almost as equals, constrained only by the inherent difference in our current titles and job descriptions. And, as students’ learning increases, I become less their “teacher” and more their “coach.” My greatest reward for teaching at AUBG has been the seriousness with which most students approach the class experiences and the solid preparation they have had before arriving at AUBG. Frankly, AUBG students have spoiled me; I could not expect most students outside of AUBG to deliver the level of performance I have grown accustomed to here. For those reasons, I cannot imagine my life and career without the experiences gained from having had the privilege of teaching at AUBG.

Although students have majors and minors, the actual education they get at AUBG is much larger and more complex. The student’s educational capital portfolio – that combination of in-class and out-of-class learning that occurs in the time at AUBG – consists of class work, informal learning, network development, leadership activities, and personal development. I have a responsibility as a faculty member to strengthen each student’s portfolio as much as possible, not just in teaching the required content of my classes, but in the facilitation of their development and the integration of educational and co-curricular experiences. This means that I am responsible for learning experiences in and out of the classroom, providing students with opportunities to develop skills and experiences to become creative, ethical, and rational problem-solvers, and to be productive citizens not only of one organization, but of a larger community.

BUS Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Business Administration, Political Science/

International Relations Outstanding Achievement Award in Business Administration If I had to do it all over again, AUBG would still be the university of my choice. It has all the qualities a future business professional looks for: excellent curriculum, exceptional professors, outstanding students, and limitless opportunities. With 20 or fewer students per class, the academic experience is very personal, and you can communicate with peers and faculty closely. Professors are always there to give you additional advice and support you in all your academic endeavors.

Ecaterina Rusnac, Moldova Majors: Business Administration, Economics Outstanding Achievement Award in Business Administration The international community, inspiring yet challenging professors, and the American model of education are the University’s main advantages. Smaller-size classes offer easy access to the instructor, which encouraged me to participate in class and helped me learn. AUBG provided me with solid theoretical and practical knowledge, irreplaceable experience gained through internships, and an overall personal progress. All these represent a solid foundation for further professional or academic development.

Elena Fominykh, Russia Daniyar Akhmetshin ’00, Kyrgyzstan AUBG Prepared Me for Real Life His business education comes in handy in solving practical problems.

By Daria Glukhova connection with his alma mater – and that despite a busy routine as managing director at Lactalis Bulgaria.

Daniyar calls his four years at AUBG “the elementary school of my professional journey – hard, basic, but absolutely necessary.” Academic rigor characterized the time he spent in Blagoevgrad. Daniyar, who completed a business degree at AUBG, felt he was learning something new all the time and was in a condition to take a test at any 13

Business

Daniyar Akhmetshin graduated from AUBG in 2000, and if it wasn’t for his resume full of professional accomplishments, you would have thought that he was still a student.

He is funny, quippy, optimistic. His snappy way of speaking marks him out as an interesting and lively interlocutor. On weekends, he often takes trips to Blagoevgrad to hang out with other nostalgia-driven former students.

Like many other AUBG graduates, he never broke off his

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moment during the semester. Next to the intensity of the AUBG experience, he ranks the scope of a liberal education: you can try a little bit of everything and take a lot of something you like the most.

Among the most influential courses Daniyar took at AUBG were Marketing, Advertising, Persuasion, Accounting, and Creative Problem — Solving. The practical nature of those classes was what made them so valuable to him. He even had a chance to apply the lessons he learned in Creative Problem — Solving to a dire reallife situation: being cash-strapped in an unfamiliar place without access to a bank or a cash machine. His solution: selling some audio tapes he had on him to passengers at a train station. He managed to peddle four tapes and paid for his fare to Blagoevgrad with the profit.

Daniyar places AUBG among the top three factors that helped him become who he is, next to his family and friends. Therefore, he advises current students to treasure every moment they spend here.

Business

After graduation, Daniyar climbed the ranks of British American Tobacco, reaching the position of trade marketing manager for independent retail in Bulgaria’s Sofia region in 2010. He left the company in 2011 to join Lactalis Bulgaria.

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Organizations our alumni work at include: telerik

McCann Erickson

Procter & Gamble McKinsey Colgate-Palmolive National Public Radio Google Nestle PriceWaterhouseCoopers Kraft Deloitte Hewlett-Packard Coca-Cola

BMW Group Shell

Bulgarian National Bank

Ernst & Young

Cisco Systems Tanuki Films IBM KPMG

The World Bank BUS alumni have advanced degrees from:

Columbia University

Georgetown University

Duke University

Cornell University

Harvard University

Yale University

Stanford University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University of Cambridge

University of Oxford

Vanderbilt University

Johns Hopkins University

London School of Economics

University of Pennsylvania INSEAD

King’s College London

Computer Science Department

Today Youngsters Opt for Computer Science

There is hardly a sphere of human activity that doesn’t depend on technology to make it run efficiently. Lawyers and judges rely on computer databases to sort through cases and evidence; medics use complex computers to help them fix ailments that in the past were deemed untreatable; architects and civil engineers commission software developers to help them shape the modern cityscape.

Computer science is a fast-growing field offering a wide array of career options to students – from scientific inquiry and technical excellence to entrepreneurial and business ventures. This field is particularly suitable for individuals who enjoy problem-solving through the use of technology.

As a computer science major at AUBG you will not only master technical skills but also learn to communicate your ideas effectively and work in demanding international environment. You will be able to apply your abilities and knowledge to coordinate and execute complex projects that change lives.

Department Overview

·

Computer science students have their own interest clubs: The Computer Science Student Union holds competitions and workshops, coordinates computer science projects, and hosts distinguished practitioners in the field of Computer Science. The Engineering Club is for students interested in mechanical engineering and programming.

CSSU was awarded Chapter status with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 2008 – the only ACM student chapter in Eastern Europe.

ACM has repeatedly recognized AUBG students with Student Chapter Excellence awards.

Robot demos have become a traditional part of computer science panels at the annual Student-Faculty Research Conference.

The Department holds an annual programming competition for students.

AUBG students regularly win regional and national competitions.

Two AUBG teams were shortlisted for participation in the local round of the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup competition. One of the teams developed C-Path, a computer-guided device helping blind people move unobstructed; the second team worked on an intelligent traffic light system that analyzes road traffic and optimizes the duration of traffic light signals based on the information.

The creators of C-Path will represent Bulgaria at the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup finals in Australia, the largest student computing competition in the world.

· · · · · · ·

BA in Computer Science and Information Systems (together with Business Department)

Master of Science in Software Engineering

Honors track in Computer Science, Information Systems

Over 30 undergraduate courses

Minors in Computer Science and Information Systems

36 published books, more than 140 journal articles

More than 10% of AUBG graduates complete a COS major

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Computer Science

The way once upon a time ambitious undergraduates aspired to become lawyers, medical doctors, and architects, today youngsters increasingly opt for computer science because of its potential for making an impact and changing lives.

Did you know that

to Make an Impact and Change Lives

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Dimitar Christozov Dimitar Christozov is the author of eight books and teaches classes in the fields of database systems, data structures and algorithms, data mining, and information systems.

Computer Science

From my first class at AUBG, I was impressed by students’ attitude, thirst for knowledge, and steep learning curves. Motivated to learn and to succeed, students tried to absorb everything I taught. This challenged me to give my best and to strive to establish a learning environment that helps students not only to build and master technical knowledge, but more importantly to develop vital skills for their future careers, such as a problem — solving attitude, responsibility, the ability to work to tight deadlines, teamwork, and the passion to keep learning. AUBG is a unique institution dedicated to the future of its students and I am proud to be part of it.

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Svetla Boytcheva Svetla Boytcheva is a frequent participant in research conferences and the author of numerous academic papers. She teaches courses in artificial intelligence, software development, discrete structures, and visual basic programming.

The diversity of AUBG students provides a professor with a fantastic challenge owing to students’ different educational backgrounds, learning styles, goals, and views. Teaching students of different majors and different levels of knowledge requires me to constantly improve my teaching methods in order to be accessible to beginners while keeping advanced students’ interest. Computer science is a rapidly changing field and while students need to be trained in the fundamentals, it is impossible to teach the newest tools and approaches. My main priority is to teach students self-learning methods that allow them to keep learning, to adopt new approaches, to interpret new information, and to apply their knowledge to real problems. After all, lifelong learning is the main task of liberal arts education.

Stoyan Bonev Stoyan Bonev has published four books on dynamic web applications, computer languages, and programming. He is the mentor of the AUBG student team who will represent Bulgaria in the world finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition in Australia in 2012.

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Computer Science

Teaching at AUBG is an honor. Teaching at AUBG is a pleasure. But above all I consider teaching at AUBG a personal responsibility. The students impressed me deeply from the beginning – all of them demonstrated high motivation to study hard and absorb as much knowledge as possible. And this was not the only reason for me to accept the offer to become a full-time professor in AUBG’s Computer Science Department 10 years ago. I like that the same professor teaches lectures, exercises, and practical sessions, unlike at European universities. The small number of students per class is another factor contributing to students’ academic achievements. Last but not least, AUBG’s computing, communication, and library resources and services are unsurpassable.

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COS Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Computer Science, Information Systems Minor: Fine Arts Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science Boryana is a Junior Software Developer at a Sofia-based IT company.

Boryana Goncharenko, Bulgaria

The essential advantage of an AUBG education can be summarized in a single word: diversity. The international environment, the variety of courses, and the personal attitude of the professors allowed me to develop skills which now I find highly useful at my workplace. After I started working I realized that the ability to present my ideas clearly and a strong team spirit are as important as my technical knowledge. In this sense, I now appreciate every presentation and group project I did at AUBG.

Majors: Computer Science, Mathematics Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science; first prize in the annual AUBG Programming Contest Ergys will pursue a doctorate degree in Computer Science at Duke University. His area of focus will be Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

AUBG prepared me well for life after graduation by allowing me to put my knowledge into practice. I had the freedom to initiate the development of several systems now used by AUBG, such as a housing selection system and a voting system for student government elections. I also had the opportunity to participate in different competitions and conferences as well as to complete an internship at telerik, an AUBG alumni-run company.

Ergys Ristani, Albania Majors: Computer Science, Information Systems

Computer Science

Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science

Christina Vasileva, Bulgaria 18

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In the American style of education the desired outcome is to give students the ability to tackle real-life challenges. AUBG gives you a solid foundation of both theory and practical experience, but you will have to do most of the work to get there. The expectations are high and if you want to be the best you have to give your best.

AUBG teaches you how to uncover your full potential and how to think outside the box when looking for solutions to practical problems. It gives you the opportunity to reinvent the wheel and by doing that to find three more ways to make it.

Mirela Spasova ’11, Bulgaria AUBG Taught Me that Being Average Is Not Enough

computer science classes (she started out taking courses in other disciplines) and would never have discovered her passion for the field. AUBG also granted the accomplished graduate a Tchaprachikoff scholarship to continue her education at Stanford.

Mirela discovered computer science – her dream field – at AUBG. Mirela was an active member of AUBG’s Computer SciAfter the mortarboards have flown high and the bachelor robes have been cast aside, students face a decisive crossroads. Placed between university and real life, some graduates return to academia while others navigate the maze of the labor market. Rarely do they manage to have a go at both. Among those rare few is Mirela Spasova, a 2011 AUBG graduate from Bulgaria who, barely a year out of college, already has an impressive resume of professional experience and academic achievement.

Mirela is currently a student at Stanford University in one of the world’s top graduate programs in computer science, where she attends lectures by world-renowned scholars and meets individuals who have developed an innovative Google application, built a dancing robot, or discovered a cure for a serious disease.

Following graduation from AUBG, Mirela took a summer internship at Microsoft in the United States and she has already accepted a job offer from LinkedIn for summer 2012. Her work with LinkedIn’s Data Science team will help her gain more experience in Social Network Analysis and Data Mining, two subjects that are closely tied to her academic interests.

The AUBG graduate says she feels equal to the challenge thanks to her AUBG education and the attitude her mentors helped cultivate.

“At AUBG, I adopted the notion that being average is not enough. AUBG faculty encourage students to try their best and be confident in their abilities,” Mirela says.

As an undergraduate, Mirela double-majored in Computer Science and Economics, managing to excel in both disciplines. Moreover, she successfully combined demanding academic pursuits with a number of co-curricular projects of her own. For example, she and her AUBG mentor, Computer Science Professor John Galletly, developed News Folder, a web-based semantic application that studies users’ online activities and predicts what news items would interest them. Their project received a best paper award at the Sixth International Conference – Computer Science 2011 in Ohrid, Macedonia.

ence Student Union, developing the student club’s new website. She is also the recipient of a Weltner Grant and two Citi Foundation scholarships.

Organizations our graduates work at: PricewaterhouseCoopers KPMG Google

Raiffeisen Bank telerik

Microsoft Corp.

Siemens Hewlett-Packard EBRD Deloitte UNICEF

Kraft Foods Oracle

Procter & Gamble

Johns Hopkins University IBM

Intel Corp.

The World Bank ING Neuroimaging Cisco Systems

Royal Bank of Scotland

Georgetown University

European Central Bank

Harvard University’s Center for Brain Science COS alumni have advanced degrees from: INSEAD

The George Washington University

King’s College London

University of Pennsylvania

New York University

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University College London

Stanford University

Duke University

University of Maryland

Georgia Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Boston College

AUBG not only exposed Mirela to complex theoretical concepts but also prepared her to tackle practical problems and imparted vital life skills, such as the ability to take responsibility, be independent, and think on her feet.

Furthermore, had it not been for the University’s liberal arts system of education, Mirela would never have taken 19

Computer Science

By Yoana Savova

Issue 48

Companies Founded by AUBG Alumni This is a non-exhaustive list of IT companies founded and run by AUBG graduates

telerik

“Deliver more than expected” Founded in 2002 by Vassil Terziev, Svetozar Georgiev, Boyko Iaramov, and Hristo Kosev 600 employees and 11 offices around the world - in Boston, MA; Houston and Austin, TX; San Diego, CA; Sofia, Bulgaria; London, UK; Munich, Germany; Winnipeg, Canada; and Sydney, Australia; India, New Delhi; Hudson, OH Main business: Developer Tools, Agile Project Management, Automated Testing Tools, Web content management Clients: Over 100,000 organizations in 94 countries, many Fortune 500 companies as well as renowned educational, governmental and non-profit institutions, the World Bank, Vodafone, Reuters, Continental Airlines, Samsung, Fox, Volvo, Nike, Volkswagen, MercedesBenz, KODAK, American Express Awards/achievements: Winner in Best of TechEd 2012; In 2012 telerik’s Kendo UI Wins Trio of Accolades for Mobile App Development and HTML5 Tools; Top Finalist in 2011 Microsoft Mobility Partner of the Year Award; VSM Readers Choice Award: Best Collaboration, Project Management, and Agile Solutions (TeamPulse) Partners: Microsoft Gold Certified Partner; Microsoft Visual Studio Premier Partner

Melon Inc.

Founded as Melon Technologies in 2003 after merging of Weblang (founders: Krum Hadzhigeogiev, Valentin Velikov, Anguel Anguelov) and Adventure Studios (founders: Antony Ivanov, Vassil Dimov and Stanislav Angelov).

Computer Science

More than 130 employees and offices in Sofia and Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.

Main business: Custom built software and new media solutions for desktop, web and mobile. Development and marketing mobile productivity and business solutions across a variety of platforms including BlackBerry®, Symbian OS™, Java®, Windows Phone 7®, Windows Mobile®, Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad). Development and integration of eLearning solutions and creation of custom eLearning content. Development of components for websites Clients: Livebookings, Coca-Cola Hellenic, OMV, Bridgehit, Buchanan Technologies, CyberArts, Mobiltel, Vivacom, Globul, Evoke New York, Blizoo and 20

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many more…

Awards/achievements: Winner of the Nokia App Launcher Icon Competition; World Summit Award Mobile; authorized Industry Software Vendor of Motorola Mobility Partners: Microsoft Partner, member of the Bulgarian Software Association and Bulgarian Web Association

Netage Solutions, Inc.

Founded in 1998 by Krassen Draganov & Dilian Pavlov

Headquartered in Sofia, branch offices in Watertown, MA and New York, NY Main business: software applications for financial institutions Clients: Organizations in the real estate, private equity, and venture capital industries in the United States Awards/achievements: IT Innovation prize of the year; first place in the Finance Website category; identified as one of the top independent software vendors in Europe for 2005 by IT Europa Projects: Website for the Bulgarian Mint, Industrial Holding Bulgaria, HVB Bank Biochim, portal for Medical University – Sofia Partners: Gold Certified Partner of Microsoft; Eze Castle Integration, leading supplier of IT services to the hedge and investment industry

FinZoom

Co-Founded by Deyan Vassilev, Class of 1995

Main business: FinZoom Corporation operates the leading financial comparison portals in Bulgaria (www. moitepari.bg), Romania (www.finzoom.ro) and Turkey (www.finzoom.com.tr). FinZoom’s mission is to empower millions of consumers to make well-informed decisions about their personal finances. Started in 2005 in Bulgaria and 2006 in Romania and Turkey, the portals are well positioned as aggregators and providers of transparent comparison information on all financial products and services, including consumer loans, mortgages, credit cards, pay-day loans, auto-loans, business loans, deposits, mutual funds, current accounts, savings accounts and others. FinZoom is part of Eastisoft Inc., www.eastisoft. com – a software solutions group co-founded by Deyan Vassilev in 2000. In the period 2000-2005 Eastisoft was focused on developing boutique custom software solutions to customers in the USA, Europe and Bulgaria.

Economics Department Take a Stand and Change the World with the №1 Economics Program

The program combines rigorous theoretical training with empirical applications using the latest techniques in an

Did you know that

·

intellectually stimulating and challenging environment.

Students are encouraged to explore beyond the norm and challenge accepted wisdom through objective analysis.

At AUBG, we foster research among the students to sharpen their creative skills and incorporate current events and reallife examples into the learning process to make knowledge practical and useful.

The program fosters open-mindedness, creative thinking, flexible visions, and empathy with others. A degree in economics means a chance to take a stand and to change the world for the better by finding creative solutions to the economic challenges societies in transition face.

Department Overview

AUBG students and faculty have participated in the prestigious annual economics conference Carroll Round at Georgetown University, held in Washington D.C., United States, every year since 2009.

Freakonomics is a student-run initiative that aims to address pressing economic issues by bringing distinguished speakers to campus.

Economics students and faculty present individual and group scholarly work at the annual Faculty-Student Research Conference.

Economics majors have the opportunity to discuss pressing economic issues with experts at specially organized forums.

Students have the opportunity to go on field trips to research centers, such as Bulgaria’s Institute for Market Economics, and leading companies in the region.

Almost a third of economics graduates complete a

senior thesis.

A fifth of AUBG students graduate with an economics major.

· · · · · ·

Ranked repeatedly as Bulgaria’s leading program in economics Honors track in economics Over 30 courses Major and minor in economics Faculty with prestigious degrees from Princeton University, University of Southern California, Columbus State University, University of Wisconsin, Univesity of Vienna (Austria), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain) 8 published books, more than 65 journal articles Bulgaria’s leading program for career success, according to 2012 results from the University Ranking System launched by the Ministry of Education

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Economics

AUBG’s economics program has been ranked repeatedly as one of the best programs in Bulgaria, and potentially in the region. The university ranking system developed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education recognizes not only the program’s academic caliber but also its ability to prepare outstanding professionals who assume leading positions in government, business, the NGO sector, and academia. More than half of the Economics Department’s graduates pursue advanced degrees at world-renowned universities; the other half embark on exciting careers across the world.

Issue 48

Economics

Didar Erdinc

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Jeffrey Nilsen

Didar Erdinc taught at several prestigious U.S. universities prior to joining AUBG. She is the author of a book about financial crises in transitional economies and numerous journal articles.

Jeffrey Nilsen is a Princeton graduate who teaches macroeconomics and quantitative methods in economics.

AUBG students value creative approaches and interactive learning more than anything else. Dogmatic approaches and simple instruction do not work!

“Learning by doing” with a reliable supervisor by their side who helps to solve problems when they arise makes this process very rewarding and effective. Students want to participate in their education process rather than being “instructed” by the professor from the top. This is why teaching AUBG students requires a great deal of concentration and hard work on our part as professors, but it is also very gratifying because those efforts usually pay off and our graduates reap many successes.

What I like the best about teaching here is that most AUBG students work summers to pay their tuition.

Through this they learn to demand value in their education. They challenge their instructors and for my part I do my best to challenge them. Students here are also tenacious. Give them a path and they’ll work hard to get to the goal. But the best thing of all, they don’t need to be taught. They apply their skills to do all that is required to learn and excel. And though not strictly needed, it sure feels good to have helped them on their way.

Steve Sullivan

Mark Leonard is an expert at agricultural economics and microeconomics. At AUBG, he teaches courses in industrial organization, microeconomics, and labor economics.

Steve Sullivan is AUBG’s Interim Provost. His research interests include the economics of sports, international monetary theory, and macroeconomics.

My teaching role is to develop students’ ability to examine economic information critically and to be able to identify and weigh options concerning that information. I think my most important task toward this development is to prepare our students to be my future colleagues, even if they choose to work in the corporate world. I have taught at a number of U.S. universities and I find AUBG students to be better prepared academically, but less intuitive about economics, than the average U.S. student. I have had to change how I approach topics as a result, but these changes have made teaching more interesting for me. I have to be more thoughtful about things I used to think were “obvious” and I think I am a better teacher as a result.

What I like most about teaching at AUBG is that so many of the students here have such high expectations for themselves. I don’t know of any other undergraduate institution where such a high percentage of its graduates go on to graduate schools – and in many cases they go to some of the best graduate programs in the world. A few years ago I received an email from a former student asking for my old syllabus from intermediate macroeconomics – because she wanted to convince her advisor at the Wharton School of Business that she already knew everything that was covered by the first-year economics course at Wharton. When I sent her the document, I congratulated her on her admission to such a prestigious program. She wrote back to tell me that there were three AUBG alumni in her class!

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Economics

Mark Leonard

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ECO Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Economics, Computer Science Outstanding Achievement Award in Economics AUBG has equipped me with solid education, motivation, and the skills to be successful at any practical task. Moreover, AUBG taught me to embrace and successfully meet challenges. My education here not only helped me master the ground rules, but also taught me how to apply the concepts and theory I learned in class to real issues. Studying in a multicultural environment has made me embrace essential values, such as respect for diversity, broadmindedness, integration, and a cosmopolitan outlook. I believe that studying in small classes and being able to interact directly with peers and professors has made me more culturally aware and has positively impacted my communication skills.

Xhesika Fezga, Albania Majors: Economics, Business Administration Outstanding Achievement Award in Economics I am very optimistic about the preparation I received at AUBG in my main fields of study. This preparation will serve as a strong base whether I choose to pursue a career or continue studying.

The small class size is AUBG’s biggest advantage as it allows a great deal of in-class interaction. Among the other top advantages of AUBG are the diverse community, the many scholarship opportunities, and Bulgaria’s proximity to my home country.

Economics

Sabutay Fatullayev, Azerbaijan

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2012 hOnOr rOLL OF cOntrIButOrs AuBG AnnuAL GIvInG dOnOrs In FIscAL YeAr 2012 (1 July 2011 – 30 June 2012 )

The American University in Bulgaria gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and organizations for their generosity. The Honor Roll of Contributors recognizes all contributions made to the University from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. Please note the list only reflects cash gifts received. Pledges are not included.

Leadership Gifts

provost’s Associates

Anonymous America for Bulgaria Foundation Elvin Guri ’96 * Marianne M. Keler* and Michael Kershow Ministry of Education, Youth and Science Open Society Institute Anna K. Tchaprachikoff US Embassy of Turkmenistan

Stephen Auth* Yulia Berberian-Maleeva** Carl Djerassi John and Jean Gulliver* Thomas Higgins* Krassimir Kanev Todor Mitev,

AUBG Alumni Top 20 Event Andrei Bachvarov ‘01 Bolsa EOOD Cyrus Capital Partners, L. P. Borbala Deak ‘99 John E. Galletly + Michael and Louise Easton Victoria Entwistle Ilya and Hanna Firman ‘02 International Transport “Balkan” Rossen ’00 and Elena Ivanovi George T. Lazar Lyuba Tours Ltd. Svetoslav Nikov ‘95 James and Kathy Pardew,

Konstantin Stoev ’95 Steve Sullivan + Julia M. Watkins Yury Zabello ‘03 century club

Anonymous Anonymous in honor of Keila Jedrik Christo Angelov ‘95 MobilTel EAD Karen Agura, in memory of Gerard van der Sluys** the Agura brothers Artan Ajazaj ‘04 second decade Archer Ideas 1991 club contributors Elizabeth Bakes Alexandra Baryakova ‘02 Robert and Nellie Gipson Olga Borissova in honor of J. Dimitri Panitza Philippe Bertherat** Vladimir Borachev ‘95** Joseph Pilov ‘96 Stoyan Bonev + president’s circle Karen Boucias* Leon M. Selig** Teodora Borova, EMBA‘09 Thomas C. Celli* Steve Sullivan + Anonymous Lyuba Boyanin Bogdan Cosmaciuc ‘99 Cosmina Tanasoiu + British Airways Bulgaria Svetla Boytcheva + Spas Dimitrov** Fabio Lopez Ceron* Krastanka Bozhinova + Ronald D. Vanden Dorpel* dean’s Associates Chris von Christierson* Jimmy Char Ann S. Ferren and Colliers International Adecco Bulgaria Geoffrey Dean + Jonathan D. Fife Asya ’02, EMBA’07 and Alex ’96, Nikolai Dimitrov ‘99 Embassy of the United States, Charles A. Fagan III* EMBA’05 Alexandrovi+ Boryana Dimitrova Bulgaria Gehard EOOD – Barbara E. Brittingham Equilibria Capital Eltrak Bulgaria EOOD branch Bansko Paul Fairbrook, in honor of Management Ltd. Atanas Garov Iveta Gigova** Maia Parmakova Pavel Ezekiev* Simona Genkova + Mr. and Mrs. Gates H. Hawn, Google Matching Gifts Yvonne Panitza** Goethe Institute, Bulgaria in honor of Mark Coleman Program Christo Grozev ‘95 The Nando Peretti Foundation Penyo Hadjiev** George Gueorguiev ‘00 HRH Princess Nino Gugushvili ‘06 Petya Hubenova ‘03 Maria Luisa of Bulgaria** and Kalina Slavova ‘02 Andon Ichev ’95 David Huwiler and Jan Protogerov Andrei Gurov + Ivan Ivanov + Svetlana Khamatova + Bulgaria Foundation Velitchka Hristova ’98,in Stefan Ivanov ‘95 Konstantin and Paulina Ivanov memory of J. Dimitri Panitza Richard J. Ramsden** Rossana Petrova-Ivanova Barbara E. Janeff, S. C. I. Valterre Stefan A. Kantardjieff, in Andrey Jiansky ‘95 in memory of Milen D. Janeff memory of J. Dimitri Panitza Telerik Bulgaria AD Marina Kapsimalova ‘05 Johnson Control Systems Turkmenistan Youth & Civic Borislav Kavlakov ‘99 Jordan Karabinov ‘97 Johnson & Johnson Values Foundation Sergey Koinov ‘96 Marin Karageorgiev ‘98 Matching Gifts Program Stratzi Kulinski ‘95 Volin Karagiozov + Tanya Kosseva-Boshova ‘96 sustaining Gifts J. Mark and Lynnette G. Sophia Katsarska + Elizabeth Kostova** Leonard + Zornitza Keremidchieva ‘97 Lydia Krise + Aurubis Bulgaria Logodaj Winery Veselina Kertikova ‘02 Sol Polansky** Thomas W. Bird** Ivan and Alexandra Manev* Gevorg Khachatryan ‘08 Frank P. Popoff David and Kathleen Emilian Marinov ‘96 Daniela Kisova ‘96 Pauline J. Porter, Flanagan** Microsoft Matching Irena Komitova in memory of William R. Porter Mary Lee Herbster, Gifts Program Daniela Kostova + David L. Reich and in memory of William Herbster Alexander Mihailovski Meglena Kuneva* Susan C. Dessel Robert & Ardis James Stanislav Kyosev Lucia Miree + Slavi T. Slavov Foundation Virginia Lawton, Shane Moriarity Roman Vasilev Claude Janssen** L. Andrew Norman in memory of J. Dimitri Panitza Anne Woodbury, Anastas and Emilia Andrea Leskes* Nu Boyana Film Konstantinovi in memory of Robert L. Dan Levinschi ‘07 Saso Ordanoski* Woodbury KPMG Bulgaria Dimiter Lozanov Nickolas Panitza Lumina Foundation Diego Lucci + Solomon Passy* for Education supporting Gifts Vicky Politova-Lukanova ‘95 Charles F. Rauch, Jr. National Academic Library Anguel Anguelov – Evgeniya MacDonald + Cyrus Reed + Information System, Bulgaria Mostuna ’00 ** Laura M. Macinnis and Francois Riston* Netage Solutions Nikolay Arnaudov Ernesto Fernandez TBC Prim OOD Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD (Kole) ’00, EMBA ‘09 Ivan Majdrakoff (Rene Catering) John C. Whitehead Avendi OOD Sani Silvennoinen +

summer 2012

Teodora Marcheva ‘08 + Albena Markova ‘96 Ambassador John Menzies Ana Milicevic ‘01 Lyubomir Minchev Momchil Mitov ‘95 Nadia Naydenova ‘99 Nickolay Nedelchev Ivo Nedkov ‘04 Leonid Oknyansky ‘97 Alexander Oliver ‘01 Ambassador Louise V. Oliver Maria Oprenova ‘97 Vladimir and Gigi Ossenov Victor Papazov Dilyan Pavlov ‘95 Ira Penza (Tisheva) ‘03 Petar Petrov ‘06 Svetlozar Petrov * Sevdelina Petrova ‘10 Violeta Petrova ‘97 Pfizer Foundation Matching Gifts Program Ludmilla G. Popova-Wightman Elena Poptodorova** Jerome Priest Gregory S. Prince Jr.** Alban Pruthi ’05, in memory of Shefqet Pruthi

Robert F. Rothschild Zlatina Ruseva-Savova Dr. and Mrs. Gian Carlo Salmoiraghi Todor Sheljaskow Theodore O. Sippel Kamelia Slaveykova, EMBA ‘07 Barbara Snowadzky, in memory of Rudolph Snowadzky

Sopharma Trading Varbin Staykoff ’96,

in memory of Peter Staykoff

Borislav Stefanov ‘01 Julia Stefanova Ana Stojanovic ‘06 Genadi Stoyanov, EMBA ‘09 Nadezhda Stoyanova Susan M. Sutton Evelina Terzieva + Wayne C. Thompson Philip Tilney Emil Tsenov ’95 Georgi Tsvetkov ‘06 Norma S. Tucker Asya Varbanova ‘03 Ivan Vargoulev ‘95 Krassimir Vrangov ‘96 William A. Weary Diyana Yancheva ‘03 Yanko A. Yankov-Bossia, MD Irina Yordanova Yordan Zhechev, in memory of J. Dimitri Panitza

Friends of AuBG Nadezhda Afendova + AIMS Human Capital OOD Ivailo Aksharov ’95 Aisulu Aldasheva ‘02 Elitsa Alexandrova + Maria Alexandrova ‘03 Boriana Alexiev (Jeleva) ‘97 Veneta Andonova + Dzhoni Andreev + Hristo Apostolov + Rabbi Haim and Elaine Asa Boryana Atanasova ‘09 Pavlina Atke + Snezhka Bangacheva + Nikolina Ivanova-Bell + Elena Bikova + Zlatina Bogdanova ‘01 Elka Bogusheva + Plamen Bonchev + Maria Boneva ‘02 Iren Borissova ‘96 Yanko Boyanov + Zdravka Bozhinova + Robert Burlingham, in memory of Milen Janeff

Cabra EOOD Plamen Cheshmedjiev ‘02 Zornitsa Choukniyska ’99, EMBA ‘09 Vanya Choneva ‘01 Jeremy Cripps + Jean Crombois + Andrey Delchev* Viktor Dimitrov ‘05 Viktor Dimitrov + Maria Dimitrova + Nestor Dinkov ’97, EMBA ‘04 Velichko Dinov Vesela Docheva ‘05 Kristina Doneva + Lyudmila Dzakova + Dilyana Dzanova ‘07 Ralph Earle II Vladimir Elezov + Emilia Ellis Kevin Feeney + Silviya Fileva ‘11 Vania Filipova + Frame Restaurant Borislava Gabrovska ‘00 Angelina Georgieva + Gergana Georgieva + Ivelina Georgieva ‘02 Ani Gesheva ‘07 Irina Gigova ‘97 Dane R. Gordon Tamara Gordon Anca Grozav ‘02 Stanislava Gurova + Xia Han ‘06 Vera Hristova ‘03 Maria Ilieva +

Interhotel Grand Hotel Sofia Yulia Iordanova + Diana Iossifova Boris Ivanov + Kamelia Ivanova + Nadezhda Ivanova, EMBA’10 Aneliya Goryanova-Ivanova + Christina Jordanova ‘03 Zdravko Jovev + Ajdan Jumerefendi ‘02 Krumi Kaishev Boian Kalchev ‘96 Kristina Kaneva ‘01 Iliya Kardashliev ‘04 Metodi Kazaliev + Jennifer S. Kiser Blazhka Klyumbova + Elisaveta Kokotanova ‘02 Teodora Koleva ‘96 Boyka Komsulova ‘05 Valentin Kovachev + Daniela Kovacheva + Iliya Krastev ‘00 Orlin I. Krumov, in memory

Maria Petrova + Vera Petrova ‘08 Manol Peykov ’95, EMBA ‘08 Julian Popov * Slava Popova + Silvia Prokopieva ‘02 Nikolay Raykov ‘06 Anton Roussev ’96, in memory of Dr. Dobrinka Rousseva

Nikolay V. Rumenin ’08 * Iliana Ruseva + Kalina Saltiel ‘05 George and Yvonne Schexnayder Boriana Shalyavska + Velitchka Shopova + Ivan Skabrin ’95 Katherine M. Skiba Desislava Slavcheva ‘07 + Spas Slivkov Maria Sotirova + Georgi Smilkov + Krasimir Spasov + Aneta Spendzharova ‘02 of Colonel Boris Drangov Mariana Stoimenova + Hristo Lazarov ‘02 Borislav Stoitchkov + Maria Lazarova + Camelia Stoitzova + Anna Mangova ‘02 Antoni Stoyanov ‘10 Diana Manolova ‘96 Aneliya Stoyanova + Raia Mantovska ‘08 Pavlina Stoycheva EMBA ’08 + Niya Mantovska ‘11 Vasil Strelkov ‘05 Tanya Markova + Petar ’02** & Vera ’05 Svarc Mihai Matei ‘00 Dessislava Tabakova ‘02 Mariya Mehandzhiiska + Milush S. Todorov ‘96 Mariana Milanova + Desislava Todorova ‘00 Ken Moskowitz Tamara Todorova + Gergana Murtova + Daniel Tomov ’97 Asie Mustafa ‘07 Lyuba Tomova + Lyuben Mutafchiev + Rene Tomova ‘00 Dimitar Nachkov ’95, EMBA ’04 Danko Tonev ‘96 Mikhail Nahorny ‘02 Elena Topalova Viktor Nasr ‘09 Plamena Toteva ’05. EMBA ‘09 Roumiana Natcheva ‘08 Nikolay Trifonov ‘03 Veneta Trifonova ‘03 Elitsa Naydenova ‘09 Vasil Tupalski + Lyubka Naydenova ‘95 Borislav Tyulekov + Dariana Nedeltcheva ’96 Tzvetelina Tzvetkova ‘01 Nikoleta Neycheva ‘09 Trezor Restaurant Milena Nikolova + Ivan Valchanov ‘95 Venera Nikolaeva ’09 + Ilko Vangelov + Irina Novakova ‘05 Nikolay Vasilev + Tsvete Obreshkova ’95 Ilya Vedrasco ’00 Natalia Oglu ‘02 Rumyana Velichkova ‘09 Martin Ouzounov ’97, ‘05 Mitko Vodenicharski + Svetlana Ouzounova ‘97 Markus and Sabina Wien + Tanya Papazova + Ivan Yakimov + Maia Parmakova + Yana Yaneva ‘06 Simona Parvanova ‘00 Emilia Zankina + Augustina Pasheeva ‘10 Vassil Zashev + Yulia Pechanova + Denitsa Zheliazkova ‘03 Plamen Peshov ‘97 Ani Zlatkova + Konstantin Petkov ‘96 Rossen Petkov ‘04 Margarita Petkova ’04, EMBA ’09 +

*Member, AUBG Board of Trustees **Member, University Council + Member, Faculty or Staff

hOnOr rOLL OF cOntrIButOrs

AuBG Annual Giving Levels Leadership Gifts from $50,000 1991 Club from $25,000 President’s Circle from $10,000

Sustaining Gifts from $5,000 Provost’s Associates from $2,500 Second Decade Contributors from $1,000 Supporting Gifts from $500

Dean’s Associates from $250 Century Club from $100 Friends of AUBG below $100

specIAL GIFts In honor

In memoriam The Agura brothers Dancho Dinov ‘95 Colonel Boris Drangov William Herbster

Milen Janeff J. Dimitri Panitza William Porter Shefqet Pruthi

Dr. Dobrinka Rousseva Rudolph Snowadzky Peter Staykoff Robert L. Woodbury

Mark Coleman Keila Jedrik Maia Parmakova

ALumnI GIvInG class of 1995 Ivailo Aksharov Christo Angelov Vladimir Borachev Christo Grozev Andon Ichev Stefan N. Ivanov Andrey Jiansky Stratsi Kulinski Momchil Mitov Lyubka Naydenova Dariana Nedeltcheva Svetoslav Nikov Tsvete Obreshkova Dilian Pavlov Manol Peykov Vicky Politova-Lukanova Ivan Skabrin Konstantin Stoev Emil Tsenov Ivan Valchanov Ivan Vargoulev class of 1996 Alexander Alexandrov Iren Borissova Elvin Guri Boian Kalchev Daniela Kisova Sergey Koinov Teodora Koleva Tanya Kosseva-Boshova Diana Manolova Emilian Marinov Albena Markova Dimitar Nachkov Dariana Nedeltcheva Konstantin Petkov Joseph Pilov Anton Roussev Varbin Staykoff Milush S. Todorov Danko Tonev Krassimir Vrangov class of 1997 Boriana Alexiev (Jeleva) Nestor Dinkov

Irina Gigova Jordan Karabinov Zornitza Keremidchieva Leonid Oknyansky Maria Oprenova Martin Ouzounov Svetlana Ouzounova Plamen Peshov Violeta Petrova Daniel Tomov class of 1998 Velitchka Hristova Marin Karageorgiev class of 1999 Zornitsa Choukniyska Bogdan Cosmaciuc Borbala Deak Nikolai K. Dimitrov Borislav Kavlakov Nadia Naydenova class of 2000 Anonymous Anguel Anguelov - Mostuna Nikolay Arnaudov Borislava Gabrovska George Gueorguiev Rossen N. Ivanov Iliya Krastev Simona Parvanova Desislava Todorova Rene Tomova Ilya Vedrasco class of 2001 Andrei Bachvarov Zlatina Bogdanova Vanya Choneva Kristina Kaneva Mihai Matei Ana Milicevic Alexander Oliver Borislav Stefanov Tzvetelina Tzvetkova

class of 2002 Aisulu Aldasheva Asya Alexandrova Aleksandra Baryakova Maria Boneva Plamen Cheshmedjiev Ilya and Hanna Firman Ivelina Georgieva Anca Grozav Kalina Slavova Ajdan Jumerefendi Veselina Kertikova Elisaveta Kokotanova Hristo Lazarov Anna Mangova Mikhail Nahorny Natalia Oglu Silvia Prokopieva Aneta Spendzharova Petar Svarc Dessislava Tabakova class of 2003 Maria Alexandrova Vera Hristova Petya Hubenova Christina Jordanova Ira Penza (Tisheva) Nikolay Trifonov Veneta Trifonova Asya Varbanova Yury Zabello Denitsa Zheliazkova Diyana Yancheva class of 2004 Artan Ajazaj Iliya Kardashliev Ivo Nedkov Rossen Petkov Margarita Petkova class of 2005 Viktor Dimitrov Vesela Docheva Marina Kapsimalova Boyka Komsulova

Irina Novakova Alban Pruthi Kalina Saltiel Vasil Strelkov Vera Svarc Plamena Toteva class of 2006 Nino Gugushvili Xia Han Petar Petrov Nikolay Raykov Ana Stojanovic Georgi Tsvetkov Yana Yaneva class of 2007 Dilyana Dzanova Ani Gesheva Dan Levinschi Asie Mustafa Desislava Slavcheva class of 2008 Gevorg Khachatryan Raia Mantovska Teodora Marcheva Roumiana Natcheva Vera Petrova Nikolay V. Rumenin class of 2009 Boryana Atanasova Viktor Nasr Elitsa Naydenova Nikoleta Neycheva Venera Nikolaeva Rumyana Velichkova class of 2010 Augustina Pasheeva Sevdelina Petrova Antoni Stoyanov class of 2011 Silviya Fileva Niya Mantovska

summer 2012

AuBG sOcIetY OF FeLLOws the AuBG society of Fellows recognizes private cumulative giving, since 1991, in support of AuBG

university Benefactors America for Bulgaria Foundation George Soros - Open Society Institute Anna K. Tchaprachikoff Athanas A. Zamphiroff panitza Fellows Alex Balkanski Minko Balkanski Philippe Bertherat Brother’s Brother Foundation Eliot Elieff The International Media Fund Marianne M. Keler The Salgo-Noren Foundation davidson Fellows Ralph P. Davidson Elvin Guri

J. Dimitri and Yvonne Panitza Richard J. Ramsden John C. Whitehead The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Pew Charitable Trusts The Sallie Mae Fund presidential Fellows Chris von Christierson Gordon E. Cadwgan David T. Flanagan Norris Darrell Jr. Nellie & Robert Gipson William J. Hume Claude Janssen Lumina Foundation for Education Charlotte S. Metcalf MobilTel EAD Nancy R. Newhouse-Iovenko The Nando Peretti Foundation The Starr Foundation

Fellows Thomas W. Bird Duke Franz Foundation Craig Hall Ann S. Ferren and Jonathan D. Fife Freedom Forum Nan Frederick Mary Lee Herbster Terry Hopkins ING Bank – Sofia Branch Jules T. Kortenhorst HRH Princess Maria Luisa of Bulgaria Ministry of Education, Youth and Science, Bulgaria Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria Harrison Richardson Leon M. Selig

AuBG society of Fellows University Benefactors from $1m

Davidson Fellows from $250k

Panitza Fellows from $500k

Presidential Fellows from $100k

Fellows from $50k

endOwments endowments are permanent legacies that support AuBG in perpetuity 2002

USAID Endowment

2007

Anna K. Tchaprachikoff Endowed Scholarship Michael & Louise Easton Endowed Scholarship Ann S. Ferren and Jonathan D. Fife Scholarship for Community Service

2008

Michael Iovenko Endowed Scholarship Athanas A. Zamphiroff Endowed Scholarship Ilya V. and Katherine K. Talev Endowed Scholarship David Huwiler and Svetlana Khamatova Endowed Scholarship Fund

2009

Metcalf/Ramsden Endowed Scholarship Stephane Groueff Distinguished Endowed Scholarship

2010

Robert L. Woodbury Endowed Scholarship

2012

Eugenia Shudtz Brechka and Roberta Louise Nilsen Memorial Scholarship

Note: Every effort has been made to make this listing 100% accurate. If, however, your name has been omitted, misspelled, or misplaced, we sincerely apologize.

Please let us correct our mistake by contacting the AUBG Development Office at development@aubg.bg

hOnOr rOLL OF cOntrIButOrs

Artan Ajazaj ’04, Kosovо AUBG Gives You Well-Rounded Experience, Artan’s employment with the World Bank also began with a recommendation by a trusted fellow AUBG-er.

Good Set of Skills “An AUBG colleague and friend who was already work-

A practical focus was what made the economics ing there recommended me. This is how I got to the first program so valuable to Artan interview and the rest is history,” he says.

By Darya Yanitskaya For 2004 graduate Artan Ajazaj, from Kosovo, AUBG’s economics program became a molding experience that led him to a successful international career. Artan currently serves as Investment Officer at the Treasury of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and is one of the people responsible for managing all the World Bank money disbursed to countries for loans or for various projects.

Assessing market risk and sorting through tons of data are part and parcel of Artan’s job, but so is being a good psychologist and dealing with many different groups and interests. “I have to be very careful about what goes to the clients and counter-parties that rely on our team for information, so it’s a mixture of market and reputational risk,” he says.

His education prepared him well to handle such diverse challenges. “AUBG gives you a well-rounded experience and a good set of skills. The economics program, in particular, gives you very strong fundamentals, helps you understand society, and opens doors to a whole new world.”

At AUBG, Artan completed two demanding majors, in Economics and Business Administration, and also minored in Fine Arts. The rigorous academic training he got prepared him to successfully meet the demands of the graduate program in finance at George Washington University (GWU), where Artan enrolled after spending some time working in his native Kosovo. The communication skills he acquired as an undergraduate also helped him to excel at interviews and land his first job at auditing giant Deloitte after graduation from AUBG. “Working at Deloitte, I found the Corporate Finance and Money and Banking classes, among others, to be very beneficial,” he says, adding that the practical focus of his studies has been very helpful throughout his career.

Companies employing Economics alumni include: NATO

American Express Nestle

Columbia University Prada

Deutsche Bank Rolls-Royce

Duke University USAID

Ernst & Young Carrefour

General Electric

Citi Group

Goldman Sachs Coca-Cola Hewlett-Packard IBM MarketWatch JPMorgan

Merrill Lynch KPMG

Morgan Stanley

Kraft Foods

World Bank Google

National ministries Danone

University of Maryland

London School of Economics Deloitte

Court of Justice of the European Union ECO graduates hold advanced degrees from:

Boston College

Central European University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

Georgetown University

Harvard University INSEAD

London School of Economics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Oxford University

Princeton University

University of Cambridge

Yale University

“I applied to GWU because a good friend of mine from AUBG had been admitted there a year earlier,” Artan says.

He also admits that the University’s academic reputation and the excellent education it provides helped him get the scholarship that allowed him to complete his graduate studies at GWU. 29

Economics

But it wasn’t only the formal education he received at AUBG that has helped him along the way. The AUBG alumni network and the friends one makes at the University are an invaluable resource one can tap into to get advice about graduate schools, living arrangements, or employment opportunities.

Issue 48

History and Civilizations Department

Students from More Than 40 Countries Practice Dialogue in Its Purest Form at AUBG

By pursuing a degree in one or more of our programs, you will acquire concepts, methods, and perspectives that will help you develop your way of thinking and will provide you with a model for future learning. So you will follow in the footsteps of many AUBG alumni who now teach at such prestigious universities as Berkeley, Yale, and the Central European University or, like businessman Elvin Guri, have successfully pursued other careers and are now among the major benefactors of our community.

And you will join a long list of people who have employed their understanding of humanity to comprehend, interpret, and change the world. Those include not only renowned academics and intellectuals, but also many creative, brave, and inspirational persons, such as businessman and philanthropist George Soros, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, several American presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, internationally famous writers like Umberto Eco and Salman Rushdie, and Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of Borat and Ali G.

Department Overview More than 45 courses Honors track in History Majors in History and Civilizations and American Studies (with the Department of Arts, Languages and Literature) Minors in History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Religion, American Studies, and Southeast European Studies

Faculty with prestigious degrees from University of Oxford, European University Institute Florence, University of Sydney, University of California

38 published books, more than 55 journal articles

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Students in the honors track in History and Civilizations work on original research projects over two consecutive semesters under the supervision of faculty.

AUBG is part of the oral history project “Topoi of Historical Memory,” a multidisciplinary study of the national and minority realms of historical memory.

Students present scholarly work in history and philosophy at the annual Student-Faculty Research Conference.

AUBG organizes educational trips to museums, archeological sites and places of historical interest in Bulgaria and the region.

AUBG organizes a history retreat in Blagoevgrad or places of historical interest in Bulgaria and the region every year in the spring semester.

The Department hosts weekly debates, exhibitions, movie screenings, and guest lectures with the participation of prominent scholars and intellectuals from Bulgaria and abroad.

The undergraduate academic journal Thoth is run by AUBG students and publishes scholarly work in the humanities and social sciences.

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History and Civilizations

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Did you know that

History helps you discover how our world evolved and how people used to behave in particular situations. The study of History is thus crucial in organizing and assessing evidence, interpreting complex events and issues, and evaluating and solving problems. History and the other disciplines offered by our Department also enable you to process information and express your ideas with rigor.

This is a critical skill in all fields of decision-making and research, such as academia, government, law, journalism, and other careers. It is indeed no accident that key positions in politics, media, show business, and other fields have been colonized by historians, anthropologists, and philosophers.

Diego Lucci

Rositsa Gradeva is a world-renowned expert in Ottoman history and the author of six books. She gives classes in global, Balkan, and Ottoman history.

Diego Lucci is the author of four books on early modern philosophy and European intellectual history. He gives courses on Medieval Europe, Rome and the Ancient World, philosophy, and ethics.

What attracted me to AUBG? Probably the most important factor is the diversity of the students. A significant number of our students come from regions or belong to cultures that are covered in the courses I teach – Balkan and Ottoman History, History of Islam. It is indeed challenging to teach history about which students already have views, sometimes contradictory, rooted in their educational systems. Just one example – the Macedonian issue in a group where there are Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, and Albanians. However, what sets our students apart from others is that they do not just have opinions; they are ready to discuss and defend them and also to listen to the arguments of others. Our students are ambitious, critical, and inquisitive. I find it really rewarding when I see their views evolve and mature.

I teach philosophy, and teaching philosophy means to inspire in people the courage to think critically, to think for themselves, to examine themselves and the world around them. One might suppose that teaching philosophy is the same anywhere in the world, but AUBG has something special about it. Every time I step into a classroom, I find myself in front of 20-30 students coming from almost as many countries. Now, try to imagine how different these students’ cultural, social, and intellectual backgrounds are. And imagine what it takes to lead all of them to challenge common opinions, to be independent in their search for truth, and to find ways to sustain their quest for truth. Ostensibly, it would be easier to work with students grown and educated in the same socio-cultural environment. But our diversity is one of our greatest strengths, because our students’ different backgrounds and life experiences lead them to exchange ideas, challenge each other’s assumptions, and hence question their own certainties. Therefore, at AUBG we practice dialogue in its purest form, starting from the very source of philosophy, namely doubt, incredulity, or simply, as Plato put it, “wonder.” And our students’ ability to wonder, to inquire, and to reflect is what enables them to find their path to a wise and happy life.

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History and Civilizations

Rositsa Gradeva

Issue 48

Markus Wien Markus Wien is the author of a book about the German-Bulgarian economic relations during the two World Wars. His teaching interests are in the sphere of European History, especially the history of East and Southeast Europe.

History and Civilizations

Communicating with young people from all over the world on a daily basis and teaching them history is an invaluable social experience, in the sense that it continues broadening my individual horizons. The experience also contributes to my professional development as a historian. Usually we tend to teach European history from a very Eurocentric point of view, taking Europe as a given entity, if not as the natural ruler of the world. This way of teaching is not possible if you have students not only from Europe but also from Turkmenistan and the U.S., for example, in the same class. To them, Europe looks very different. This helps me improve my teaching methods and forces me to question traditional assumptions about European history.

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HTY Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Major: History Outstanding Achievement Award in History

Molly May, United States

I see the diversity of both the faculty and the student body as AUBG’s main advantage; that was one of the top reasons I came here in the first place. Beyond the diversity, I find the small size of the school and its liberal arts structure to be most appealing. The ability to interact directly with the professors is a product of the small class sizes, which I find to be more conducive to learning. I think small class sizes are more comfortable for both students and professors, and open up channels of communication that build a sense of mutual respect. I also feel I’ve been very well prepared in my main field of study. Now that I’m at the end of my time here, I’ve really enjoyed watching how subjects I studied in other classes crossed paths with what I’m studying now, and how courses outside of my major have become relevant to those within it. I can see liberal arts working!

Major: History Minors: Anthropology, Political Science Outstanding Achievement Award in History

Martin Trenkov, Bulgaria

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History and Civilizations

The preparation in my main field of study has been liberating: Assistance was always available, but even more valuable was the freedom allowed for individual development.

AUBG’s liberal arts frame has made it possible to pursue subjects that interested me personally and contributed to my intellectual improvement. Last but not least, easy access to and direct interaction with faculty members also benefited my education immensely.

Issue 48

Natalya Chernyshova ’01, Belarus

By Pushing Us to Work Hard, AUBG Prepared Us Well for the Future Natalya’s career was minted in AUBG history classes.

By Ksenia Lukanova Despite a strong affinity for history and all things historical, 2001 graduate Natalya Chernyshova had never considered pursuing history as a profession. That is, not until she enrolled at AUBG and got a first taste of what it might be to become seriously involved in the study of history.

Natalya, who is currently a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Winchester, England, double-majored in Journalism and Mass Communication and History as an undergraduate. She admits that being a historian “certainly wasn’t the plan” when she came to AUBG. She loved history since she was a child and devoured history novels, but she never thought about making it her profession. When she graduated from AUBG she first worked in media and later earned a master’s degree in European Studies at King’s College, University of London.

However, the history classes she took at AUBG had cultivated her appetite for serious scholarly work. “The pull of doing history was always there,” she says. After completing her master’s degree, she finally gave in and went for a doctorate in history. “I was attracted by the possibility of doing in-depth research on something I was interested in,” Natalya says. “Being a researcher gives one amazing freedom: to pursue a subject that is of interest and importance to you, while also feeling that the results might be useful to others.”

History and Civilizations

Natalya says that AUBG helped her become what she is today in more than one way. Allowing her to major in two subjects and introducing her to a number of fascinating people are among the top factors that made AUBG such an incredible place to be. Natalya met one of the major influences in her life at the University: Professor Craig McCaughrin was a visiting professor of politics from Virginia, USA for several years and one who “always put his students first, encouraged them and supported their development, often going out of his way to help,” she says.

Natalya liked that AUBG challenged her to give her best and be ambitious. “We were pushed to work hard, which prepared us well for the future.” Most of all, Natalya enjoyed the variety and the freedom of choice AUBG gave her. She said she felt encouraged to do subjects she probably would never have tried otherwise and doing history at AUBG built important foundations for further study.

Today, Natalya teaches courses on Soviet, East European, and 20th century European history to undergraduates at the University of Winchester. “I love my job,” she says, add34

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ing that the best part of her job is the research and writing. “I like going after a question – it is a bit like detective work.” She also likes teaching, although she did not think she would. “It is very rewarding to get a student become so interested in something you talked about in class that they want to investigate it further,” she says. “It is great to see young people develop and mature as they move from their first year to being graduates and to feel that perhaps you, too, contributed your little bit to this process.”

HTY alumni work in a variety of spheres and organizations: Deloitte

Georgetown University Hewlett-Packard

Johnson & Johnson

Kraft Foods

Leiden University

United States Marine Corps

University of Maine

University of Oxford

University of Winchester

National ministries HTY alumni hold advanced degrees from: Boston College

Georgetown University INSEAD

Harvard University University of Oxford

King’s College London University of Pittsburgh

Princeton University University of Chicago

University of Maryland University of Maine

University of Michigan

California State University

Central European University

George Washington University

Journalism and Mass communication Department

What should you expect as a JMC major? In a word: challenge. You don’t succeed in the communication professions by just intellectual effort, but also by practice, practice, practice. You will write, and re-write, and re-write again. You will learn to think of your audience and craft your message appropriately. You will encounter ethical principles and apply them to real-world cases. You will encounter esthetic principles and apply them in design, and camera work, and editing. You will learn how to use language to tell a story and learn the basic requirements for conducting a persuasive campaign. You will learn how to relate to other people in mediated environments, how to contribute to democracy, and how to always put people first in your efforts to communicate.

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·

· · · · ·· ·

AUBG students practice journalism in a variety of student media: Defacto (online and print), AUBG Daily (online), Verve magazine (print), Radio AURA, AUBG TV, Defacto TV, and the academic journal Thoth (online).

AUBG students organized the University’s first ever short film festival in November 2011, screening shorts by both established and aspiring filmmakers. A special guest at AUBG Film Fest was Scott Hillier, cinematographer and director of photography of the Academy Award-winning short documentary Twin Towers.

AUBG’s Documentary Club hosts weekly film screenings and talks by professionals in the film production industry.

The Department supports trips to film festivals, competitions, and journalism simulations.

The annual student-organized party JMC Rocks celebrates the Department’s achievements over the academic year.

The Department sponsors practical workshops and lectures with professionals from the media world.

Award-winning journalists have coached JMC students.

The Department helps students get internship placements in media organizations around the world.

The Department hosts exhibitions of student work.

Department Overview Honors track in Journalism and Mass Communication Two tracks: Journalism track and Mass Communication track

Major in Journalism and Mass Communication

Minor in Journalism and Mass Communication

Faculty with prestigious degrees from Tulane University, Syracuse University, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

6 published books, more than 20 journal articles, 8 documentary films

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Journalism and Mass Communication

The world is moving rapidly to a 24/7 connection with information. Although most news and commentary continue to be provided by major news organizations, and most advertising, marketing, and public relations work still occurs through traditional media channels, this reality is unstable. The integration of information flows through converging distribution technologies increasingly calls for agile communicators, using multiple skill sets, to remain relevant in a fast-paced and interconnected world.

JMC is where these skill sets are developed, where the attitudes necessary for participation in this new media world are nurtured, and where the collaborative crosscultural realities necessary to respond effectively to technological change, distribution channel shifts, and content development expectations are learned. JMC taps into perhaps the most crucial sensibilities required for personal and professional success in this twenty-first century of communication.

Did you know that

JMC Equips Students with a Diverse Skill Set, the Ability to

Thrive in a Fast – paced and Interconnected World

Issue 48

Melody Gilbert

Journalism and Mass Communication

Melody Gilbert is an award-winning freelance documentary filmmaker and producer. She teaches courses in television news reporting, documentary filmmaking, and multimedia journalism.

My teaching methods are mostly collaborative, not authoritative. I try to nurture and nudge and bring out the best in students. I try to teach by example. I share everything I know. I help them with networking. I introduce them to my world. My goal is to create successful students who can find their happiness in life being a journalist or making documentaries, just like I have. What inspires me to teach is the moment that always gives me chills: it’s when the “light bulb” goes off in a student. The moment they “get it” and everything clicks. And you both know that their life has been changed forever. Since 1996, I have been watching those light bulbs go off. I started teaching documentary filmmaking and journalism at the University of Minnesota after leaving a long and successful career in broadcast journalism. Since then, I have taught at several schools and universities. I can honestly say that AUBG has been the best place I’ve ever been a teacher and I believe it boils down to this: AUBG students are enthusiastic, appreciative, and curious about the world. Why else would they come from 44 countries to Blagoevgrad to take courses in English (for most students, English is their second language) at an American University in Bulgaria?

It’s a potent mix of students in a true melting pot of learning.

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Mark Wollemann Mark Wollemann is a journalist and editor with 30 years of experience in news and sports journalism at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and several other publications, including the Los Angeles Times and The National Sports Daily in New York City. He teaches writing and reporting at AUBG. My message to students is fairly simple: show up and work hard. There are many things students can’t control (where they were born, the quality of instruction they received before coming to AUBG, and any of a thousand other factors). One thing they alone control: how hard they’re willing to work; how often they’re willing to show up. My great delight is that in this, my first teaching assignment, I’ve come across many inquisitive, passionate, and self-motivated students who want nothing more than an opportunity to turn today’s lesson into tomorrow’s knowledge. I can’t rightly say what makes teaching here different from teaching somewhere else. I do know that a professor wants nothing more than an audience of willing students who listen, participate, and push themselves to achieve. I see a lot of that here at AUBG.

Dinka Spirovska

What makes me tick as a professor is to walk into a classroom at the start of a semester and observe that students have sat at desks beginning with the front row rather than starting at the back of the room and moving forward. Walking into such a classroom, I am pushed against the white board by a wave of faces that exert curiosity and eagerness for new challenges. First impressions are seldom wrong. This will be a good class, I tell myself when it occurs‌ and it is so, until the very last day of the semester. Knowing that my students are truly interested motivates me to continue searching for ways to engage them with the material, to facilitate meaningful discussions, and to assign projects in which they find real value.

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Journalism and Mass Communication

Dinka Spirovska is a design and photography professional who has participated in various prestigious exhibitions and video festivals in the U.S. She teaches design, photojournalism, and visual communications classes at AUBG.

Issue 48

JMC Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Major: Journalism and Mass Communication Outstanding Achievement Award in JMC Alexander works as a digital media professional for Google

Alexander Acosta Osorio, Colombia

AUBG’s liberal arts program gives students the resources and skills needed to thrive professionally. With the right mix of class participation, hands-on work assignments, lectures, and extra-curricular activities, students always find ways to explore and develop their potential. The small campus and classes allow for a closer interaction with your professors. Sharing the classroom with top students from all over the world also enhances the experience as a whole. It made it richer and more challenging for me.

Majors: Journalism and Mass Communication, Business Administration Outstanding Achievement Award in JMC My favorite thing about AUBG is the diverse and enriching extra-curricular activities that give you so much more than regular classes. At AUBG you can study JMC and write for student media, organize events, coordinate promotional campaigns as well as create websites and commercials. This is what distinguishes AUBG from other universities: students enter the workforce already prepared, full of new and creative ideas and ready to put them into practice.

Anna Ceachirova, Moldova

Journalism and Mass Communication

Majors: Journalism and Mass Communication,

Business Administration Outstanding Achievement Award in JMC Anna has enrolled in a PhD program in Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia, USA

Anna Kromin, Russia 38

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Having worked with Sergey Ivanov and John Mullen, I discovered my passion for literature and Slavic languages, whereas Melody Gilbert’s passionate attitude towards teaching made me realize I only want to do something I absolutely love doing. I see my AUBG experience as a great and very solid stepping stone that has led me to where I am right now, and I am not in the least scared or intimidated to embark on the grad school journey, because I know that along with my two majors, I got a solid background in fields like foreign languages and literatures, thanks to the general education curriculum at AUBG.

Monika Evstatieva’05: Bulgaria AUBG Is an Integral Part of Who I Am and What I Represent She practiced journalism at Radio AURA and as picking all the music played during the program. She is also the one inviting various artists and musicians to the in hands-on class projects “You don’t have to follow everyone else’s path. Create your own life and don’t be afraid to challenge yourself,” says 2005 graduate Monika Evstatieva, from Bulgaria, who dared brave the U.S. media market and today serves as an associate producer on All Things Considered, the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio and one of the most listened-to radio shows in the United States.

AUBG laid the foundation of Monika’s journalistic career by exposing her to practical assignments in her journalism classes and allowing her to work in the University’s radio station, AURA. In addition to majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication, Monika completed a second major in Business Administration and minored in Fine Arts.

Born in Sofia, she came to Blagoevgrad for the first time in May 2001 for an Open House Day at AUBG. “It was the perfect combination of a picturesque town, with warm weather and a great, youthful spirit. I just fell in love with it,” she recalls.

Monika says that AUBG has entirely changed her life. “It has become an integral part of who I am and what I represent,” she says. “My closest circle of friends consists of AUBG-ers, even here in Washington, D.C. My profession has everything to do with me working for four years in Radio AURA and the patient guidance of three remarkable journalists and professors – Dinka Spirovska, Aernout van Lynden, and Laura Kelly.”

After completing her studies at AUBG, Monika pursued a master’s degree in International Broadcasting from the American University in Washington, D.C. That’s when she decided that she wanted to live and work in a country where journalists can report as freely as possible. “I wanted to learn the craftsmanship of being a solid journalist and I also wanted to live in a place that offers you the opportunity to succeed, no matter how minute that chance might be,” Monika says.

program.

“I get to write scripts, book guests, and pitch story ideas.

No day is the same as the previous, because I get to work with some brilliant journalists and meet some of the most interesting people in the world today,” Monika says. “I love my job.”

Organizations JMC graduates work at: AVON

British Airways Bayer

British American Tobacco BBC

European Parliament CNN

Harvard University Press Coca-Cola

Ministry of Finance Danone

National Public Radio, USA DHL

Ogilvy & Mather NATO

Oxford University Press Shell

Procter & Gamble Kraft Foods

Publicis Marc L’Oreal

Rolling Stone Google

The Wharton School Marcus Evans

McCann Erickson MarketWatch

Thomson Reuters

World Bank Our graduates have advanced degrees from: Boston University

Georgetown University Duke University

Istituto Europeo Di Design Oxford University

King’s College London Purdue University

New York University Roosevelt University

University College London Syracuse University

University of California Yale University

University of Maine Columbia University

University of Maryland

University of Notre Dame du Lac

George Washington University

University of Pennsylvania

Carnegie Mellon University

Central European University

She first started working at NPR in 2006 as an intern on another signature program called Morning Edition. She became an associate producer on All Things Considered in May 2011.

NPR’s oldest “magazine” program, ATC includes news, analysis, commentary, interviews, and special features and is broadcast live daily to over 13 million listeners. More than 700 stations across the U.S. carry the show. Monika’s responsibilities include directing the live broadcast, as well 39

Journalism and Mass Communication

By Ayna Pirkuliyeva

Issue 48

Mathematics and Science Department

Discover the Beauty, Symmetry, and Logic of Nature and Its Laws

Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science The Department of Mathematics and Science of AUBG consists of a small group of faculty members devoted to their profession. They are diverse in age, career paths, scientific interests, and educational backgrounds but share a common value – they are curious people, fascinated by the beauty, symmetry, and logic of Nature and its laws, which are written in the language of mathematics. If you are like them, if you have an inquisitive mind and like to find out how things work or solve puzzles, then you may have the “right stuff” to become a mathematician. Mathematics will make you a smarter, more logical person.

More importantly, it will make your life interesting.

The mathematics major at AUBG will give you the necessary foundation and real chances to continue your education at top graduate schools in Europe and the USA. What is more, you will get a taste of the really exciting interwoven advanced subjects. Whether you want to continue with a Ph.D. in pure mathematics, or a master’s in financial mathematics, or do graduate work in economics, or perhaps pursue a career in computer science, a diploma from the Department of Math and Science has proven to be a great asset.

Department Overview

Mathematics and Science

More than 20 courses

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Major and minor in Mathematics

Honors track

11 faculty with prestigious degrees from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, the Pennsylvania State University, Virginia Tech, Purdue University

8 published books, more than 200 journal articles

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Several of our students have done in the past or are doing now mathematical research, leading to original results – in number theory, algebra, geometry, topology and braid groups. This is not a small achievement, considering the complexity of the field.

2006 graduate Vesna Stojanoska and AUBG Science Professor Orlin Stoychev won the 2009 Allendoerfer Award of the Mathematical Association of America for best expository article in Mathematics Magazine.

Two AUBG students, under the leadership of Mathematics Professor Hristo Iliev, won silver medals at the South Eastern European Mathematical Olympiad for University Students (SEEMOUS) in spring 2011.

A large number of students majoring in mathematics continue their education in some of the most prestigious graduate programs in the world.

AUBG students and professors organize initiatives to raise awareness of environmental degradation.

Did you know that

“A scientist worthy of the name, above all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.”

William A. Clark

Kaloyan Slavov is a Harvard and MIT graduate and holds a certificate of advanced study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. He gives courses in calculus, algebra, and geometry.

William Clark’s research interests include sustainable use of natural resources (especially water) and the links between religion and environmentalism. He teaches biology and environmental science at AUBG.

I was so excited about my senior thesis in college that I had a need to talk about it with my friends and roommates – who were not math majors – in addition to the weekly meetings with my adviser. Then I discovered how intellectually fulfilling it was to find ways to express deep and abstract mathematical ideas in simple down-to-earth language. At AUBG, as I am explaining mathematical concepts, I search for every-day analogies that illustrate what is actually going on behind the curtain of equations and formulas. Perhaps it is the challenge and the rewarding experience of making mathematics accessible to a broad audience that makes teaching at AUBG truly exciting for me.

When I embarked on my graduate studies at Penn State University in 2000, my specific goal was to teach at AUBG. A few years earlier I had met a group of AUBG students who so impressed me with their caliber and diversity that I was gripped by an aspiration to become a member of the University’s faculty. I’ve been teaching at AUBG for five years now and my daily interaction with students continues to motivate and energize me.

Teaching biology and environmental science to nonscience majors is both a challenge and a joy. My aim is to make science relevant to each student regardless of his or her academic focus. I don’t expect that many of my students will remember the details of DNA synthesis or the complexities of atmospheric chemistry; and there is a slim chance any of them will become career scientists. I do hope, however, they are enriched both personally and professionally as they gain insight into how science touches upon business, economics, culture, and society at large.

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Kaloyan Slavov

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Math & Science Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Economics, Mathematics Outstanding Achievement Award in Mathematics and Economics Elitsa was admitted to the Young Talent MBA Program at IESE Business School which includes a mandatory two-year work placement at one of the school’s partner companies.

Elitsa Dermendzhiyska, Bulgaria

At AUBG I had the pleasure of working with outstanding professors of economics, who melded academic rigor with practical insight to make us think about real-life issues from multiple angles. The AUBG difference is in the level of interaction and open discussion between students and faculty. Our professors never force-feed us theories; instead we are challenged to think independently and reason through complex issues from day one. It’s mindboggling how much my horizons have expanded during those lively discussions in the classroom!

Majors: Mathematics, Computer Science Outstanding Achievement Award in Mathematics and Computer Science The academic preparation I got at AUBG was very valuable in the sense that it allowed space for independent research and deeper study of a subject. At the same time, the math and computer science programs provided me with a thorough overview of interrelated subjects in the two fields, which is essential for a bachelor’s degree. Another important aspect of the AUBG education is that professors here are always willing to aid you in your individual efforts.

Plamen Dimitrov, Bulgaria Majors: Mathematics, Economics Outstanding Achievement Award in Mathematics

Mathematics and Science

Herta will pursue a master’s degree in finance at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey

Herta Kalemaj, Albania 42

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I strongly believe that AUBG has prepared me for a competency- and skill-based business environment after graduation. With guidance and support from my professors from the very beginning, I completed two demanding but very complementary majors, in economics and in mathematics, which will help me pursue my career goals in the future. Being able to take a variety of courses has helped me discover what I am really passionate about and also built a strong set of related skills and knowledge, which will be useful in any career.

Dimitri Avramov ’11, Bulgaria AUBG Provides Excellent Instruction and Encourages Personal Initiative The University provided both the necessary academic preparation and financial support for his graduate studies.

By Sylvia Zareva Dimitri Avramov singles out his AUBG math professors as some of the most inspiring influences on his life. Not only did they make the fascinating world of numbers accessible to him, they also accommodated his individual interests and helped him acquire an in-depth understanding of his favorite subjects.

In the four years Dimitri spent at AUBG he discovered what he wanted to do professionally and how to get there, he says. Moreover, the University continued to support his ambitions by awarding him a $35,000 Tchaprachikoff scholarship to help cover the cost of the graduate program in Financial Engineering at Cornell University, which he joined in 2011 due to his strong interest in finance.

Today, Dimitri is well on his way to realizing his plans.

He successfully passed the CFA Level I exam in June 2011 and intends to pursue the CFA Charter. In the summer of 2011, Dimitri interned at the market risk department of MKB Unionbank, a subsidiary of Bayern LB. At Cornell, Dimitri is taking advanced classes in finance and considering a career in financial services.

Dimitri graduated with honors from AUBG where he completed two demanding majors – in Mathematics and in Economics. “I believe that AUBG gives a balanced education. I am impressed by the quality of the Mathematics and Economics courses,” he says, adding that “it is up to the student to make most of what the university has to offer. University education is not only a collection of courses. A student should do more than what is required for his\her degree to get prepared for the global marketplace.”

Dimitri also held teaching assistant positions in mathematics and economics. He completed a senior thesis on Credit Risk Price Discovery and earned a place to present his research at the Carroll Round Conference at Georgetown University in 2011.

Organizations our graduates work at include: KPMG

Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Oracle

United Bulgarian Bank Morgan Stanley

University of Pennsylvania Raiffeisen Bank

University of Pittsburgh Baron Capital

University of Virginia Duke University

Johns Hopkins University

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Math & Science alumni have advanced degrees from:

Brandeis University

Central European University

Columbia University

Duke University

George Washington University

Johns Hopkins University

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

London School of Economics Tilburg University

University of London

University of Maryland

University of Oxford

University of Pittsburgh

University of Virginia

Northwestern University

Cornell University

Virginia Tech MIT

“AUBG offered me the majors and courses that are essential for someone pursuing a graduate education and career in quantitative finance. What I found most useful is that I was able to switch majors half way through without losing an extra year. I started a Business major that I switched to Mathematics after my fourth semester.”

For his academic achievements, he earned a place on the Dean’s List and President’s List several times and was awarded a Vehip and Natasha Guri Scholarship twice.

In Dimitri’s senior year, both the Economics and Mathematics Departments at AUBG recognized his work by presenting him with Outstanding Achievement awards in their fields.

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Personal initiative and the quality of instruction in his majors helped Dimitri excel in his studies.

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Politics and European Studies Department Brussels-bound Journey to the European Union’s Top Employment We live in a globalizing, digitalizing, integrating, disintegrating, trade liberalizing, resource depleting, climate changing, migrating, warring, peace-making world.

It can be difficult to make sense of it – but you have this nagging feeling that somehow it affects you.

That’s because it does.

So how to make better sense of it?

A stronger understanding of the world and global forces will help you approach problems from other viewpoints, see through mental walls, and develop solutions that others may not see. So, whether you end up running your own business, working in a multinational corporation, serving your government in a ministry, tackling global issues in an international organization, or leading social change in a nongovernmental organization, you will need more than textbook job skills to chart your own life path.

The majors in European Politics and Political Science/ International Relations prepare and encourage you to recognize, analyze, and evaluate the role of major actors, structures, and processes in Europe and in our broader world.

In short, we can help you make better sense of the world.

Politics and European Studies

Department Overview

Honors track in Political Science/International Relations and European Politics

Majors in Political Science/International Relations and European Politics

Minors in Political Science/International Relations and European Politics

Faculty with prestigious degrees from City University of New York, University of South Carolina, University of Notre Dame, University of West of England, Florida State University, University of Limerick, University of Pittsburgh

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6 published books; more than 35 journal articles

·

· · · ·

·

·

Did you know that

Opportunities Begins at AUBG

Simulations of European and international institutions are an integral part of the Political Science/ International Relations and European Politics curricula.

AUBG hosts an annual Model United Nations simulation with participants from many foreign countries.

Political Science and European Politics majors have received institutional support to attend simulations, conferences, and student meetings abroad.

AUBG students majoring in Political Science and/or European Politics normally participate in exchange programs at major European and U.S. universities.

The student-run European Youth Parliament and the Political Science Club, which partners with the Political Science Club at Sofia University, organize activities and host guest lecturers from the field of politics.

Some of the guest lecturers to speak at departmental activities include ambassadors, current and former ministers and prime ministers, renowned scholars, and civil society leaders.

The Department holds public discussions of important world events.

Cosmina Tanasoiu is the founder of the European Studies major at AUBG. Tanasoiu’s teaching interests range from European intellectuals and comparative politics of Europe to European Union institutions.

As a student, I could not forgive two things from a professor: incompetence and boredom. I see a class as a performance, mixing virtuosity (for which you have university degrees to show) and improvisation (which is subject to adjustment to the audience). A combination of classical music, jazz, and rock’n’roll. It needs rhythm, punch lines and some degree of the unexpected (though hopefully not crashing guitars) to introduce students to what otherwise could remain, despite best intentions, an abstract subject. For me, teaching European Politics is an opportunity to mix storytelling with conceptual material on EU institutions, policies, constitutional politics, party politics, electoral systems but also sports, culture and the media. Teaching is more than academic ping-pong (I say, they write), but rather a conversation though not necessarily a democratic one (if as a professor you lose control over the classroom there is no point for you to be there in the first place). I’d rather push students than regret not pushing them enough. It is a risk I am willing to take. The point is not to make the students’ life miserable, but to give them the satisfaction by the end to say: I did this! My promise, as you enter my classes, is to offer an intellectual training you can rely upon whether for further academic studies, in the job market or simply reading news.

Ivelin Sardamov Ivelin Sardamov has published widely in scholarly journals. He teaches politics, conflict and conflict resolution, and global political economy.

In the 1960s, media guru Marshall McLuhan commissioned an iconic mural. Called “Pied Pipers All,” it depicted stylized human figures writhing in a psychedelic dance against the background of an easily recognizable TV screen. McLuhan wanted the painting to represent vividly the way in which television was mesmerizing the young and leading them away from the adults – as the proverbial “pied piper” had once done with the children of a medieval German town. A few decades later, the role of TV has been taken over by the internet and the multiple devices offering potentially incessant access to the virtual world it creates. As McLuhan thought television had done in the 1960s, the virtual reality created by “ubiquitous computing” threatens to open a growing generation gap between students (the “digital natives”) and us (the “digital immigrants”). I believe my main task as a teacher is to reach across that deep divide in order to help students stay connected to adult concerns – and to learn from their ability to navigate multiple, often confusing streams of information.

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Cosmina Tanasoiu

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Emilia Zankina

Politics and European Studies

Emilia Zankina’s research interests span East European politics, dance, modern languages, and journalism. She teaches classes in comparative politics, Bulgarian government and politics, and public policy analysis at AUBG. My goal as a teacher is to empower students to discover and develop their talents, build confidence, and grow intellectually. I aim to cultivate in students a discipline and curiosity for learning, a solid knowledge base, and strong analytical skills. Such qualities, I believe, would make them well-equipped to continue their higher education or enter professional careers. AUBG provides the perfect environment for my teaching credo. A liberal arts institution with a small student to professor ratio, I am able to develop a close relationship with students, engage in their interests and follow their progress. A multidisciplinary curriculum and an extremely diverse student body assure vivid in-class discussions and exchange of ideas. My efforts as a teacher are greatly rewarded as I see my students enter graduate programs in some of the best universities and occupy prominent professional positions.

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Robert Phillips Among Robert Phillips’s research interests are mass media and the impact of the Internet on politics. He is a long-standing advisor to the Student Government at AUBG and a renowned politics expert whose commentary on current issues has appeared in numerous publications and broadcasts.

We live in an increasingly complex world. Things often happen so quickly and so constantly that we don’t have time to stop and make sense of them. A large part of my work in the classroom is designed to help people develop frameworks to better work through this complexity.

Depending upon the course, it could be a framework to better understand how humans make decisions or a framework to see how political parties relate to each other. These frameworks can help people analyze the complexity. The combination of analytical skills with the ability to communicate their analysis can make them better business persons, better government officials, and (my favorite) active democratic citizens.

POS & EUR Department Rewards Its Outstanding Students Majors: Political Science/International Relations,

Business Administration Outstanding Achievement Award in Political Science/International Relations

Aleksandra Ivanov, Serbia

The ability to interact directly and frequently with professors is the main advantage of an AUBG education. It is professors’ lectures and the advice and thoughts they shared in private that have most profoundly impacted my personal growth and academic development. Moreover, the diverse classes I took at AUBG provided me with a rather wide base of knowledge in both of my study fields and I feel ready to build upon these foundations in the coming years.

Majors: European Studies, Political Science/ International Relations Minor: Journalism and Mass Communication Outstanding Achievement Award in European Politics Martin has been admitted to several master’s programs at such prestigious institutions as the London School of Economics, Central European University, and the University of Groningen.

The Politics and European Studies Department is a small and united community, which allows its students to benefit from close interaction with the faculty members. The instructors inspired me to do well in all classes and assignments by fostering a challenging yet friendly atmosphere. It was a stimulating place to develop my keen interest in European law and governance and to shape my understanding of European Union policies and enlargement. Moreover, my AUBG professors prepared me well for my graduate studies – both in terms of the application process and in terms of developing my career interests.

Martin Angelov, Bulgaria

Outstanding Achievement Award in Political Science/International Relations and European Politics

Amanda Orza, Serbia

In today’s globalized world which offers many opportunities, an education in English is indispensable. Since AUBG is an American institution based in Europe, students get to experience the best of both worlds. In a close-knit community, students learn the values of other cultures as they have a unique chance to get to know their peers and professors. The small size of classes allows professors to pay more attention to individual student needs and to give students feedback. Above all, AUBG professors are friendly and approachable and try to help students as much as possible – with their studies at AUBG and with advice about their future after graduation.

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Majors: Political Science/International Relations,

European Politics

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Irina Novakova ’05, Bulgaria From AUBG to Brussels What she learned in European Studies classes helped Irina not only get a high-powered job at the European Commission but also excel at it.

By Veselina Apostolova Meet Irina Novakova, the right hand of European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, at least when it comes to handling international media. Irina is a 2005 AUBG graduate whose Brussels-bound journey to the European Union’s top employment opportunities began in European Studies and Journalism classes at AUBG. And it is exactly what she learned in those classes that prepared her to stand out once she got there.

“I use what I learned at AUBG every day – whether it is the intricacies of comitology which I had to master for my Policy-making in the EU course, or the invaluable KISS rule (standing for ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid!’ – we learned that in Journalism class).”

As a press officer for Commissioner Georgieva (who is Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response), Irina is in charge of organizing campaigns and writing articles, website content, press releases, and briefings. In addition, Irina organizes press events and advises the commissioner on media issues. She attends high-level Brussels summits as often as she visits disaster sites around the world.

Politics and European Studies

Irina says that AUBG helped her develop many skills that have proven to be invaluable in her career; among these skills are team work, concise writing, research abilities, critical thinking, curiosity, and perspective. Thanks to the excellent instruction by and guidance of professors like Cosmina Tanasoiu, Robert Phillips, Aernout van Lynden, and others, Irina developed the knowledge and confidence necessary for professional success.

When Irina first came to AUBG, she intended to pursue a major in Computer Science. But as she proceeded to take courses that interested and compelled her, she grew aware of the possibilities fields like political science and journalism would open up for her. “This is how I ended up with two majors and a minor – in Journalism and European Studies, along with a minor in International Relations – and a secret regret that I could not do more courses.”

The broad interdisciplinary nature of the European Studies major and the imminence of European accession in Bulgaria at the time determined the geographical focus of Irina’s academic pursuits. European Studies combines studying history, political philosophy, diplomacy, and macroeconomics – all fields a European Commission press officer needs to be competent in to thrive in their profession.

Irina also has a master’s degree in European Studies from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. To sup48

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port herself, she worked as a correspondent for Bulgarian newspapers Dnevnik daily and Capital weekly for four years. “It was an exciting time, as I got to report on the last stages of Bulgaria and Romania’s preparation for EU accession and the first years of their membership in the EU,” she says. Irina has also worked as a freelance journalist and stringer for international publications like The Economist. She joined the European Commission in 2010.

Organizations our alumni work at include: NATO

National governments IBM

Procter & Gamble Ernst & Young

Hewlett Packard Google

University of Houston Deloitte

Leiden University Red Cross

Duke University Mercedes-Benz

Fox International European Commission

McKinsey and Company

European Parliament

Interest groups in Brussels

United Nations and UN agencies

National and international NGOs

London School of Economics POS & EUR graduates have advanced degrees from: Oxford University

Yale University Columbia University

Duke University Cornell University

Boston University Dartmouth College

University of London Georgetown University

University of Maine

Johns Hopkins University Harvard University

University of Amsterdam INSEAD New York University

University of California Princeton University

University of Delaware

University of Manchester Simon Fraser University Stanford University

University of Maryland

University of Pennsylvania Syracuse University Webster University

University of Pittsburgh

University of Warwick

London School of Economics

Central European University

Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

Massachusetts Institute

of Technology

Monterey Institute

of International Studies

University of Notre

Dame du Lac

University of North Carolina

American University

in Washington

News @ AUBG $6 Million in Scholarships Available for Top AUBG Hosts 4th International Model United Nations Conference Bulgarian Students December 21, 2011

February 17-19, 2012

The American University in Bulgaria received a $6 million grant from the America for Bulgaria Foundation.

The funds will be used to support outstanding Bulgarian students who enter the University during the next three years. They will be distributed for full and partial scholarships covering students’ 4 years of study at the University.

This is the third ABF grant received by AUBG from the Foundation.

AUBG hosted the fourth annual Blagoevgrad International Model United Nations conference in February.

More than 70 participants from Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Serbia, Macedonia, and Albania came to Blagoevgrad to assume the roles of UN diplomats and debate pressing international issues.

AUBG Math Students Win 2 Silver Medals in Regional Math Contest

Oxford Professor Kicks off Joint Series by March 6-11, 2012 AUBG & Balkanski-Panitza Institute for Sophomore Zlatko Joveski, from Macedonia, and firstAdvanced Study January 18, 2012

Dimitar Bechev, head of the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Professor at Oxford University, kicked off a new lecture series with a discussion titled “The End of Europe?”. The series is organized by AUBG in cooperation with the Balkanski-Panitza Institute for Advanced Study. The Institute is the brainchild of the close friends Professor Minko Balkanski and the late Dimi Panitza. Established by prominent European and American academics, the Institute is an autonomous association bringing together institutional and individual members.

Bulgarian Filmmaker Discusses Afghanistan Documentary at AUBG

year student Gheorghe Pupazan, from Moldova, won silver medals in the South Eastern European Mathematical Olympiad for University Students (SEEMOUS), a prestigious competition that attracts the region’s best university math students.

Alums Throw Anniversary Bash, Take Nostalgia Trip to AUBG’s Past March 16, 2012

The alumni-organized AUBG Top 20 event commemorating the University’s twentieth anniversary took place in Sofia. More than 600 graduates, students, faculty, staff, and guests came together to celebrate party-style.

February 6, 2012

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Venelin Petkov, a bTV anchor, journalist, and documentary producer, screened his Afghanistan film Opium and Roses and discussed filmmaking with journalism students. The event was organized by the newly established Documentary Movie Club.

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Noted Bulgarian Philosopher, Artist Opens Students Pitch Business Ideas to Exhibition at AUBG Entrepreneurs at AUBG March 19, 2012

March 23-24, 2012

A photo exhibition by the distinguished Bulgarian philosopher and artist Tsocho Boyadzhiev opened at AUBG in March. The exhibit was preceded by a seminar titled “The Philosophy of Photography,” at which Boyadzhiev questioned some widely held notions about the purpose of photographic expression and also read some of his most recent poetic work.

The two-day StartUP Blagoevgrad conference brought together successful businessmen and young entrepreneurs at AUBG. In addition, business angels and managers of leading Bulgarian companies shared their experience and counseled students on how to transform their ideas into successful businesses. Over 200 students attended the conference, making it the largest business event in Southwest Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Ministry of Education Gives AUBG Top Ratings Once Again Environmental Week Promotes Green Living, March 22, 2012 Helps Community The American University in Bulgaria once again leads most Bulgarian universities in graduates’ employment and the incomes they earn, according to 2012 results from the Ministry-developed ranking system. Moreover, all five academic fields at AUBG evaluated by the system – Economics, Computer Science, Business Administration, Political Science, and Journalism/Mass Communication – ranked among Bulgaria’s best.

March 26-31, 2012

More than ten AUBG, local, and national organizations joined hands in organizing the fourth edition of Environmental Week, held March 26-31, 2012. This year’s program included healthy living workshops, recycling and composting drives, tree planting, and a movie shorts competition, and aimed to promote Earth-friendly practices among students and Blagoevgrad residents at large.

News @ AUBG

Lacey Cope and Galina Chuleva, the 2012 and first ever Presidential Medalists

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Community Activist & Folklore Buff Is 2012 Undergraduate Research Tackles Academic Presidential Medalist Themes, Practical Issues April 1, 2012

April 7-8, 2012

AUBG’s highest distinction – the Presidential Medal – went to fourth-year student Lacey Cope this year for her academic achievements and active participation in community life. Along with Cope, the University administration recognized more than 400 students for their academic and co-curricular accomplishments at the 19th annual Honors Convocation. The keynote address was delivered

by Galina Chuleva, a 1995 graduate and the University’s first medal recipient.

AUBG hosted the annual Student-Faculty Research Conference “The Fellowship of the Mind” in April. The sixth edition of the conference drew together students and professors from several universities and featured panels in economics, EU politics, journalism, philosophy, public health, education, and modern languages.

Students Organize Prestigious TEDx Event, Host Noted Speakers April 20, 2012

AUBG Students Stage Popular U.S. Musical, AUBG hosted its first ever TEDx event, attracting nine Tour around Bulgaria April 2-14, 2012

This spring, AUBG students staged the critically acclaimed U.S. musical Grease, with performances in six Bulgarian cities. Grease was the fifth major musical production to be staged by AUBG students after Chicago, West Side Story, Hairspray, and Moulin Rouge.

distinguished speakers from Bulgaria, the UK, and the U.S. Organized by AUBG students, TEDxAUBG is an independent event licensed by TED, the nonprofit organization dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.”

Bulgarian Volleyball Legend Attends AUBG Olympic Games April 22, 2012

Job Fair Attracts 40 Leading Companies; Around 300 students, faculty, and staff took part in the Google Recruits at AUBG Forty organizations took part in the 19th annual Job and Internship Fair held at AUBG. Returning as well as firsttime participants, such as Google, came to look for talents among AUBG students and alumni. Companies from a wide array of industries, such as banking, food, IT, auditing, electronics, and hospitality, came to fill internship and job vacancies.

2012 AUBG Olympics, the biggest annual sports event at the University. Bulgarian volleyball legend Lyubomir Ganev was a special guest and an active participant at the games.

AUBG Team to Represent Bulgaria at Global Computing Contest April 23, 2012

AUBG students Samer al-Bakhlul and Agim Kopali, and Sofia University student Nikolai Georgiev, under the mentorship of AUBG computer science professor Stoyan Bonev, will represent Bulgaria at the world finals of the

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April 3-4, 2012

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prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup competition in 2012, one of the largest computing events for students internationally. Their invention – C-Path, a computer-guided device helping blind people move unobstructed – was judged by a Microsoft jury to be the best project from Bulgaria.

garia, Serbia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Colombia. Keynote speaker at the ceremony was 1995 AUBG graduate Dilyan Pavlov, an entrepreneur who started several successful software companies.

Former AUBG President Easton Appointed Successor to Dr. Huwiler

More Honors Turns 15: A Student Legacy that May 14, 2012 Lives On April 27, 2012

The More Honors Academy staged the fifteenth edition of the increasingly popular show, which was attended by more than 1,000 people this year.

Princess Maria Luisa, Education Minister Salute 2012 Graduates May 13, 2012

News @ AUBG

Bulgarian Education Minister Sergey Ignatov and H.R.H. Princess Maria Luisa of Bulgaria extended greetings to the graduating class at the Eighteenth Commencement Ceremony on May 13, 2012. A longstanding member of AUBG’s Board of Trustees and University Council, Princess Maria Luisa also received an honorary doctoral degree from the University. AUBG awarded 238 bachelor’s degrees and 24 EMBA degrees to graduates from 24 countries, among them Poland, the United States, Bul-

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Following its meeting in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, the AUBG Board of Trustees announced that it has selected Dr. W. Michael Easton as the next President of the University. Earlier this year, Dr. Huwiler notified the Board of his intention to retire after completing his second term as President. Dr. Easton accepted the Board’s offer and will assume his responsibilities as President on September 1 this year.

IN MEMORIAM Dr. Wm. Cyrus Reed, AUBG Provost (2010 – 2012), passed away on July 19, 2012 in Michigan, USA. Cyrus, you will be missed!

Asia Europe North America

Africa

South America

Australia

American University in Bulgaria Blagoevgrad

Main Building 1 Georgi Izmirliev Sq. Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria President’s Office: (+359 73) 888 307 Development: (+359 73) 888 366 Fax: (+359 73) 888 344 Published by:

University Relations Office Phone: (+359 73) 888 215 Fax: (+359 73) 888 399

Balkanski Academic Center 54 Alexander Stamboliyski St. Skaptopara Campus Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria Admissions: (+359 73) 888 235 American University in Bulgaria Sofia

Elieff Center for Education and Culture 1 Universitetski Park St., Studentski Grad Sofia 1700, Bulgaria Switchboard: (+359 2) 960 7910 Fax: (+359 2) 961 6010 U.S. Mailing Address: American University in Bulgaria 910 17th St., N.W. Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20006

www.aubg.bg