The American College of Thessaloniki cordially invites you to attend the 3rd Inspiration Exchange Event under the auspices of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Humanitarian and Public Service:
“Post-election Greece: Looking Ahead”
a workshop on the future of Greece
with Simon Bensasson, former senior official of the European Commission
Wednesday, May 16, 5 PM, ACT New Building Conference Room.
The American College of Thessaloniki cordially invites you to attend the 2nd Inspiration Exchange Event under the auspices of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Humanitarian and Public Service: “How to raise you child’s IQ” with guest speaker William Maxwell, Professor of Thinking.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012, at 18:30, Bissell Library – ACT
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On Wednesday May 9th, from 11:30 - 5:00, in the NB AV Room, the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences will host ACT's 1st Student-Organized Conference on Globalization and Digital Culture. Students will be presenting their research in three areas which are: Digital Culture, Digital Identities, and Digital Geographies of Political and Social Activism.
Click here to download the program of the Conference.
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Prospects and forecasts regarding the future development of European and Greek economy and possible scenarios on the future of the euro, as well as a practical response to uncertainty in the business environment were presented at the event "Preparing for the Unpredictable - How companies can embrace the economic uncertainty in Greece to their advantage ", which was held on April 2, 2012 at the Bissell Library of the American College of Thessaloniki (ACT). The event was co-organized by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Anatolia College and Deloitte.
During the event, reference was made to economic developments and prospects of the countries of the Black Sea Region as well as the potential expansion of Greek enterprises’ activities in the region with financial help from the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank.
Deloitte presented the "Scenario Planning" methodology in response to the growing uncertainty of the environment within which businesses operate today.
Opening remarks were made by Dr. Hans C. Giesecke, President of Anatolia College, Nikolaos Bakatselos, Vice President of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, and Vassilis Kafatos, Deloitte Partner.
Invited speakers were Rafal Antczak, Economist – Deloitte CE Europe, Panagiotis Gavras, BSTDB Head of Policy and Strategy, and Efthymis Konstantopoulos, Deloitte Greece Principal.
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Politis: A Citizen’s Guide to Greece 2012 is the new blog of the Dukakis Center. The aim of the blog is both to encourage an open and dynamic exchange of ideas on what citizenship means in the Hellenic Republic in these unprecedented times, and to serve as a resource for innovative citizenship projects all over Greece. Its principal objective to interact with a broad and diverse audience, in part to generate self-sustaining discussion and citizen action, in part to share data and results from various research projects undertaken at the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service.
A team of twenty faculty, staff, interns, and research associates are working on the blog and related research projects during the spring 2012 semester. Among the research projects is a comparative study of municipal governance in Thessaloniki and in select cities in the USA, being conducted by three study abroad and three Greek interns under the direction of ACT alumnus Dimitris Diamantis. The group will present their findings in a mini conference in late May.
For the spring 2012 semester, the Dukakis Center will host volunteer research associates Ian Kehoe, Maria Patsarika, and Despine Ventouri. The core group of the Dukakis Center team also includes Laura Strieth, Ruth Sutton, Stelios Kelaiditis, David Wisner, and students Stavroula Dolmatzi and Pandelis Rafail.
Politis welcomes posts, ideas, or merely feedback at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
On March 28, Meet the CEOs welcomed Ms. Lia Barbatura, Project Manager, co-founder and Vice President of ASSETCOM S.A. Ms. Barbatura explained the applications of smart devices in energy consumption management and the way ASSETCOM S.A designs its own platform of devices to enhance consumer value-added in the Greek market. The company’s niche strategy was discussed with reference to competition and networking arrangements with large and small companies in the industry. Finally, Ms Barbatura described the corporate leadership in small, flat corporations and discussed how she dealt with leadership and management-related gender issues. The event was moderated by Giorgos Anastasiades, MBA Adjunct Professor.
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On April 3, the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service hosted a unique citizenship workshop for current ACT freshmen and Study abroad students.
Organizational psychologist and education consultant Ian Kehoe conducted the session, which consisted of students discussing what makes for a “good” and a “bad” citizen, and then designing mock training programs to help people become better citizens. Mr. Kehoe will analyze the findings of the session, compare them with findings from a similar session to be held with senior ACT students, and then publish the results.
Ian Kehoe has over a decade of consulting experience in the private and public sectors, having undertaken projects on behalf of the Department for Education in the UK, Cambridge University, University College Cork, the National College for School Leadership, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, and teaching at the University of Sheffield and the University of Macedonia.
Mr. Kehoe is completing a Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield and is currently a Research Associate at the Dukakis Center. He is based in Kavala.
MoreA carefully selected team of 5 students in ACT’s MBA program has undertaken the development of a marketing plan for the town of Molyvos (Mithimna) and the surrounding area in the Northern Aegean island of Lesvos as part of an advanced topics course in the MBA program, led by ACT’s adjunct professor Mr. Mousiades. The project was initiated by Dan and Helen Lindsay who are also the major sponsors of the ‘Molyvos project.’
Molyvos has in recent years experienced a substantial decline in tourism and the realization has brought together members of the community to form a Non-Profit Council to advance tourism in the area. The ACT MBA team will endeavor to analyze and characterize the decline and understand its causes, identify and explore viable alternatives to either reverse or slow the decline and/or develop substitute feeder markets, including any changes that may be appropriate to the area’s tourism “product”, its sales channels, its image and overall brand identity, and its promotional efforts. The team will develop and conduct necessary market research as well as investigate various case studies to inform its efforts. The project is expected to be completed in June with a presentation of the teams’ work and recommendations to the town’s council.
The American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Anatolia College/ACT and Deloitte cordially invite you to a presentation on:
"Preparing for the Unpredictable" How companies in Greece can embrace economic uncertainty to their advantage
Monday, April 2, 2012, at 18:00, Bissell Library, 1st Floor, American College of Thessaloniki (ACT)
Please register online at www.anatolia.edu.gr/april2event by Thursday, March 29
For further information, please contact the Anatolia College Relations Office at 2310 398.220 or the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce at 2310 286.453.
Speakers
Who said that no-one does anything for free? Why shouldn’t senior citizens dance the tango? Why can’t small groups of people change things? By literally stopping traffic and bringing the city center to a standstill, ‘Thessaloniki Allios’ is proving that small groups of creative, positive people can and do change things for the better. In a similar way to ACT’s service learning, volunteerism spirit and numerous projects and groups, ‘Thessaloniki Allios’ seeks to change mentalities and realities from the bottom-up through creative, optimistic cooperation, rather than negative opposition.
On March 21st, The American College of Thessaloniki was honoured to host Giorgos Toulas, creator and head of ‘Thessaloniki Allios’, as part of the InspirationXchange discussion series, under the auspices of the Dukakis Center for Humanitarian and Public Service; an event that simultaneously launched ‘Politis’, the Dukakis Center’s blog and carried a live-stream of the discussion. ‘Thessaloniki Allios’ was born in June 2010 with a series of events involving hundreds of volunteers and participants that infused life and culture into every part of the city, with the aim of entertaining, encouraging and inspiring people to get involved in cultural, social and environmental actions and to work together. For 2 days, Tsimiski became a pedestrian zone (a huge feat in itself) and the events left thousands awestruck by the incredible creative force of the city.
Mr Toulas, his team of co-workers oversaw a diverse array of events, including: The Naked Bike Ride-in which over 1000 cyclist flooded the city centre and formed a beautiful mosaic of body paints, hats and swimsuits, street theatre, free music and dance performances, playgrounds with storytelling and recycled play-equipment, poetry (written on hundreds of paper planes and flown from the balcony of the Elektra palace Hotel) and groups of musicians playing in hospitals and old people’s homes. The events were magical and exciting for all that walked through the streets of Thessaloniki and many were aimed at highlighting the forgotten beauty of areas of the city that have been abandoned. After exhaustive cleaning operations, in a former Jewish neighbourhood, vintage lamp shades, lights and chandeliers adorned the old wires hanging between rooftops, old houses became art galleries, swing dancers performed through the streets and theatrical shows were staged in the alley ways. The list of amusing and inspiring events goes on and what Thessalonians wanted most after this thrilling weekend was more! And so the group has grown and continues.
There have been countless events and initiatives since then, including ‘Limani Allios’, with free performances and an intruiging display about the people that have arrived and departed from Thessaloniki Port, that encouraged all visitors to write about their ‘immigration / emigration’ backgrounds and pin it to the display to create a ‘tapestry’. In addition, there have been regular drives to collect food and medicine for organizations working with people in need, which have been swamped with donations. A recent action to hand out blankets to homeless people during the cold nights was supported by the Mayor’s office and contributed to the Municipality’s decision to open Municipal buildings for people to sleep in during the cold spells for free.
Listening to Giorgos Toulas recount the human stories behind the creation of ‘Thessaloniki Allios’and all they’ve managed to achieve was both moving and hope instilling. The discussion that followed after Mr. Toulas’ talk was very interactive and we should aim to involve ACT and Anatolia students, staff and facilities in the upcoming events of ‘Thessaloniki Allios’.
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