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Campus Review
January 10, 2012
Page 4
Reichert Meets Governor Deal
Parkerson Meets with
Hungarian President Pál Schmitt
On Friday, Dec. 2, John E. Parkerson, Jr.,
director of International Programs at
Clayton State University and the honorary
consul of Hungary for the southeastern
United States, attended the annual meet-
ings of the Hungarian Consular Corps at
the Embassy of Hungary in Washington.
As a part of those meetings, Parkerson
had the opportunity to meet with
Hungarian President Pál Schmitt.
“We were privileged to have with us this
year the President of Hungary, Pál
Schmitt, who was in Washington on an
official visit,” notes Parkerson. “During
our private conversations, President
Schmitt related that he last was in Atlanta
in 1996; and he told me an amusing story
about his conversations there with
President Clinton during the gold medal
swimming competitions at Georgia Tech.
The president remains on the executive
board of the International Olympic
Committee, and he is a past Olympic gold
medalist in fencing.”
According to Parkerson, the meetings
involved Schmitt, Ambassador of
Hungary to the U.S. György Szapáry, and
the specialized attaches of the Embassy of
Hungary, briefing Hungarian Consuls
from around the United States about the
European economic crisis that affects the
European Union and Eurozone members
as a whole. Consuls also received updat-
ed information about the new simplified
naturalization process and topics related
to Hungarian-American investment and
trade. In addition, the Embassy's political
attaché gave a briefing on EU and
Hungary-US political developments.
Following morning briefings, the consuls
attended an afternoon lecture by Schmitt
at the Johns Hopkins University School of
Advanced International Studies, an event
chaired by U.S. Ambassador to NATO
Kurt Volker. The group proceeded from
there to a presidential wreath-laying cere-
mony at the Victims of Communism
Memorial. In the evening, the Hungarian
consuls attended a state dinner at the
Embassy of Hungary in honor of Schmitt
and Edit Lauer.
Lauer escaped Hungary in 1956 and has
remained instrumental as a leader of the
post-Communist Hungarian community
in the United States. Lauer and her daugh-
ter Andrea, who resides in Atlanta, and
with whom Parkerson works closely as
honorary consul, were special guests of
Clayton State in 2008, during which the
two "'56ers" delivered an address on the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and inau-
gurated a Hungarian art and culture exhib-
it in Clayton State's library.
As a member of the Advocacy
Subcommittee of Georgia Association for
International Education (GAIE), Clayton
State University Associate Director of the
International Student Services Office
(ISSO) Brett Reichert recently met with
Governor Nathan Deal in conjunction
with the events of this year’s International
Education Week.
Reichert, Georgia Tech’s Rebecca Bacon,
and Georgia State University’s Amanda
Marie Rohan-Rawaan, the Advocacy
Subcommittee of GAIE, worked with the
Governor’s Office to request, write and
win approval for a Gubernatorial
Proclamation in honor of International
Education Week, Nov. 14 to Nov. 18.
International Education Week is an annu-
al event; a joint initiative of the U.S.
Department of State and the Department
of Education. Colleges and universities
across the country plan events on their
campuses to highlight the growing impor-
tance of international education from both
inbound (international students in the
U.S.) and outbound (study abroad) per-
spectives. The program encourages cam-
puses nationwide to plan relevant events
Parkerson with
President of Hungary Pal Schmitt
Photo taken Dec. 14, 2011 with Gov. Nathan Deal at the Capitol.
(L to R) Brett Reichert, Clayton State; Rebecca Bacon, Georgia Tech;
and Amanda Marie Rohan-Rawaan, Georgia State.
Parkerson, cont’d., p. 8
Reichert, cont’d., p. 11