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December 22, 2006 | |
| In this issue: | |
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VISION IS REJUVENATED! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Seven issues ago, the
ACT Vision newsletter underwent a substantial facelift. On popular
demand, we recently took the newsletter to the make-up room again and
reorganized the way we present content to reflect what your feedback
told us would make for easier reading. We've grouped stories into
different "corners" and sections, making it easier to navigate and focus
on subjects of most interest to you. And we've added a new section, the
"Meeting Place" where we'll all get to meet students, faculty members
and alums. As always, your comments are welcome. Send a note to
vision@act.edu
to let us know what you think of the new ACT Vision. |
Message from the President |
| Happenings | |
| Upcoming Events | |
| Announcements | |
| Chairs' Corner | |
TOP
STORIES:
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Faculty News |
| The Meeting Place (NEW!) | |
| Students' Corner | |
| Careerwire | |
| Alumni Association | |
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| Message from the President | ||
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Dear ACT Students, Faculty, Staff
and Alumni,
The Holiday Season has really arrived in full force with, all in just a few days of each other, the Anatolia Elementary School Christmas party, the Anatolia Annual Christmas Bazaar for charity, the IWOG Christmas party, the Alumni Christmas tea, the ACT Christmas dinner, the ACT holiday party on December 14th at the Naftikos Omilos, the Athens...(read more) |
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| Happenings | |||
| >>Academics | |||
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ACT AT THE MONEY SHOW 2006 ACT’s Business Department participated yet again in the Money Show on Sunday, December 10th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel with presentations by ACT professors on the topic: "E-Business Diffusion in the Greek Market." This year, there was a very good turnout from the general public as well as participation by our business students and faculty...(read more) |
ACT SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN NITLE VIDEOCONFERENCE STUDY
ACT is one of only six institutions selected to participate in a multipoint videoconference service feasibility study to be conducted between January 5th and March 15, 2007 by the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE)...(read more) |
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LECTURE BY NENAD SEBEK ON "LOOSE ENDS
IN THE WESTERN BALKANS"
On Wednesday, December 20, ACT welcomed Nenad Sebek for a lecture on "Loose Ends in the Western Balkans." Mr. Sebek is Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that seeks to foster democratic, pluralist, and peaceful societies in Southeast Europe by advocating principles of social responsibility, sustainable development, and reconciliation among the peoples in the region. Mr. Sebek, who has taught courses in journalism and civil society over the past several semesters, will be relocating to Belgrade at the end of the year, thus ending this phase of an extremely fruitful collaboration with ACT. He will maintain his position as Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe. The lecture, under the auspices of the
Michael S. Dukakis Chair in Public Policy and Service, was open to the
public and took place in the packed New Building Conference Room. Mr. Sebek
started off by thanking ACT for the opportunity it has given him over the
years, an experience that has proven to be both challenging and rewarding at
the same time. He then took the audience on "a short trip through the
Western Balkans”, analyzing each region's political situation. Although the
picture he painted for most of those states was a rather bleak one (mostly
due to poor economies, corruption, organized crime and unresolved ethnic
tensions), he still expressed hopes for the future. Mr. Sebek views EU
membership as a necessary step for all the countries, hoping that it will
help in easing at least some of the aforementioned problems. He predicted
that Croatia would be the first one to join the EU (probably in 2011) and
warned against holding these prospective members up to stricter standards
than those applied to earlier applicants. |
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THE ECOLOGY CLASS AT LAKE KERKINI Students in Ecology 110 participated in a field trip to Lake Kerkini this fall semester. The field trip is organized every semester as part of the fulfillment of the requirements for the laboratory component of the class...(read more) |
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| >>Athletics | |||
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CHRISTMAS 2006 SPORTS EVENTS
The men's varsity team took
the Christmas 2006 Volleyball Cup. Second place went to a staff/alumni team
and third to the women's varsity team. The tournament took place on Monday,
December 11th and many students, alumni, faculty and staff participated and
cheered the teams on. |
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| >>Social | |||
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THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRATION AT ACT
ACT celebrated Thanksgiving Day in a traditional American way with an elaborate feast organized by the Student Government and the many study abroad students from the US for whom it was a taste of home (though still more than 6,000 miles away from it)...(read more) |
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ALUMNI CHRISTMAS PARTY
A night to remember! On Thursday, December 14th, over 300 alumni and guests congregated at OMILOS bar/restaurant to kick off the celebration of the holiday Christmas season at the Christmas Red party organized by ACT’s Alumni Association. Ladies and gentlemen donned their red dresses and Santa caps (respectively) led by MBA students who clearly took the proposed dress code to heart. Alumni mingled and danced and cheered the champagne confetti (ok, there were some “technical” difficulties to start with but, with all the expert minds around, the confetti did fly). OMILOS was packed and the dancing went on till well into the small hours of the morning. Kudos to the Alumni Association for a great job organizing the event. Those of you who missed the party, you missed a fun time. So, you may want to be sure the Alumni Association’s VASILOPITA CUTTING is on your calendar: January 18th, 9:00pm at Idols bar/cafe. Be there. |
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| Upcoming Events |
| A BUSY HSS
SEMESTER AHEAD
In the spring, ACT will welcome back Michael Dukakis himself for a 10-day residency as the occupant of the Dukakis Chair. Governor Dukakis will address ACT students in a broad variety of venues to discuss his experience in public office. Brady Kiesling will be back in March to discuss his new book on US diplomacy. Other speakers scheduled include Anatolia alumnus Leonidas Evangelides, who is currently doing consulting work with the Chinese government on security for the 2008 Olympic Games; Bernard Riech of George Washington University and Dennis Sullivan of Northeastern University for lectures on the Middle East; former Princeton Vice President Tom Wright for a discussion of contemporary American education and society; and many others. The Division of Humanities and Social Sciences will organize another International Relations Week, with an MUN simulation. Finally, thanks to the intervention of a group of incoming freshmen, ACT hopes also to organize a European Youth Parliament session on campus in the spring. |
| Announcements | |
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GOOD READS FOR THE HOLIDAYS The holiday break is a good time to catch up on some reading that isn’t directly related to your classes! With this in mind, the staff of the Bissell Library present some recommendations, based on our own eclectic reading habits. Fiction, memoir, history, poetry, art, and essays---they’re all here. Of course, each one of these books can be borrowed from the Bissell Library. Click here to see recommended reads for the holidays. |
NEW COURSE COMING TO THE MBA PROGRAM A new course has been developed for MBA students concentrating in Entrepreneurship and Management. The course is entitled "Global Business Management" and is about just that-- managing a business. A unique feature of the course is that students get to run a simulated company in a competitive environment. The course strengthens the participant's decision-making skills in the areas of finance, marketing, operations, and strategic planning. Students will develop and guide their own simulated businesses through twenty-five years of operation. Students will have the opportunity to develop corporate policy and strategy, put theory they've learned in their other MBA courses into practice, and gain a clearer understanding of the impact that functional decisions have on financial and non-financial performance. The course will be offered during the 4th quarter as an elective. The course was designed and developed by Dr. Kourkoumelis who will also teach it. |
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NEW "JOINT" MBA COURSE WITH
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
A new course will be added in the MBA
curriculum this upcoming Spring: "Ethics Considerations in Marketing
Decision Making". |
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BISSELL LIBRARY CHRISTMAS PERIOD SCHEDULE
Click here to see the Bissell Library working hours schedule for the holiday period. |
GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS PRACTICUM
(BUSINESS 399)
During the last few years, the Anatolia School of Business and Ohio University have been involved in a very successful educational experience on managing multi-disciplinary real world projects in multicultural environments. This year, the GCP course is offered again as a summer course to those interested in earning 3 credits in 10 days, starting June 18th and ending June 29, 2007. The Global Competitiveness Program (GCP) has been designed to give students an opportunity to leverage their existing business skills as well as help them develop new ones. The goals are to provide an experience that will give students confidence in dealing with business problems in another country and confidence in working with multinational teammates. More details will be provided in the future. |
BLACKBOARD The upgrade from Blackboard 6.0 to Blackboard 7.1 will take place during the winter break. We are in the process of planning a training session and, hence, faculty interested in becoming exposed to the new features of Blackboard 7.1 should contact Mark Lobjoit.
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NEW PROGRAM ON WIRELESS NETWORKS
ACT is launching a new program in networking technology. Fundamentals of Wireless LANs (FWL) is an introductory program on wireless networks. It focuses on how to design, plan, implement, operate and troubleshoot wireless LANs. Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to achieve the Cisco Wireless LAN Support Specialist designation. Dr. Baglavas will be trained and certified by mid-January and the new program will be offered to the local community in the near future. |
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IMPORTANT FIRST AID TRAINING Because our health as well as the health of those we love is important, the medical first aid course will be offered once again in January. Those interested should contact the school’s doctor, Ms. Katerina Ioannou at 2310-398359 (kation@anatolia.edu.gr), Mrs. Vicky Zaroucha at 2310-398246 (vickys@anatolia.edu.gr), or Ms. Eleni Montiadou at 2310-398265 (hmont@act.edu). Please include the dates of one of January’s weekends that you would be able to attend in order to make the necessary arrangements. The course will only take place if there is sufficient interest so please contact one of the above individuals now! To learn more, click here. |
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| Chairs' Corner | ||
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Dr. Nikos Kourkoumelis |
Dr. David Wisner
Chair, HSS Division drd@act.edu |
Dr. Panos Vlachos Chair, Tech and Sciences Division pvla@act.edu |
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I wish to extend to each and every one of
you in the ACT family a Christmas filled with happiness, good health,
togetherness, peace and above all love for one another. I also wish you
and yours a prosperous and Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. |
Greetings one and all, and best wishes
for a joyous holiday season! To close out the current term, we celebrated the departure of Nenad Sebek (see accompanying article) for Belgrade with a lecture on "Loose Ends in the Western Balkans," Wednesday, December 20th, in the New Building Conference Room. On behalf of the faculty and students of the division, I wish you once again the happiest of holidays and a splendid New Year! |
The year 2006 is coming to an end and it is
time to reflect on the accomplishments but also on the challenges that
we are going to face in the near future. The Division of Technology &
Science expands its role in serving the community by launching a new
program on Wireless Networks that leads to professional certification as
part of the Cisco Networking Academy program and by hosting a series of
IT related seminars organized by various companies. In addition ACT has
been selected among over 50 institutions in the U.S. to be part,
together with 5 other institutions, of a study on the use of
videoconferencing in Higher Education. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my best wishes to all, students, faculty and staff for a joyous and happy holiday season. |
| Faculty News | |
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ACT INSTRUCTOR DEPARTING FOR BELGRADE Nenad Sebek will be leaving ACT after several semesters as an adjunct instructor. Mr. Sebek, who has taught courses in journalism and civil society, will be relocating to his home town of Belgrade just after the new year. He will maintain his position as Executive Director of the Center for Democracy, which will continue to welcome ACT students for short-term internships. Among the highlights of Mr. Sebek's term as instructor include study trips to Skopje and to Pristina, and several activities and initiatives on campus. His tenure has coincided with the flourishing of ACT's International Relations program, for which Mr. Sebek deserves much credit. |
DR. DANAS LEAVING FOR KINGSTON UNIVERSITY Dr. Costas Danas has accepted a faculty position at Kingston University, U.K. in the area of Health Informatics and will be leaving ACT at the end of this semester. Dr. Danas has taught for several years at both the undergraduate and graduate level at ACT. We wish to thank Costas for his valuable contributions and wish him all the best in his new position. |
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY Dr. Maria Kyriakidou has been keeping busy. On November 23, 2006, she presented a seminar at CEDEFOP entitled, “Greek-Turkish Relations: The Secrets of a Long Affair”. The following day, Dr. Kyriakidou and her Women's History class attended the International Film Festival here in Thessaloniki to see the film 'Lady Zee' which is related to gender issues in Bulgaria. On November 25th , Dr. Kyriakidou's Humanities 201 and History 301 classes visited the Museum of Byzantine Culture. And 15 students from her Greek History (Ancient and Modern) classes visited the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki on December 3rd and Lucy Nahmia gave them a tour. |
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| NEW
FACULTY SENATE
As many of you know, the Faculty Senate is the representative body of the ACT faculty. It is elected every year and is composed of representatives from each division as well as senators elected from the faculty at-large. As the representative body of the faculty, it deals with any faculty-related issues, although its focus is mainly on academic issues. The Faculty Senate awards Faculty Sabbaticals and distributes Faculty Development funds. It is also an advisory body to the administration typically consulted on changes in college rules and policies that relate to faculty and academic matters. |
The new Faculty Senate members as of
December 14, 2006 are:
Chair: Emmanuel Maou |
| >> TO TOP |
| The Meeting Place | ||
| >>Meet the Students | ||
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Meet
SOFIA
TSELEPIDOU, a
Marketing sophomore who never skips Music class! |
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| >Meet the Faculty | ||
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DR.
NIKOS KOURKOUMELIS
Name: Dr.
Nikos Kourkoumelis
read more about Dr.Kourkoumelis | |
| >>Meet the Alums | ||
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DAMIANOS KALABRATZIDIS
’96 On working for a Forbes 1000 company, customer loyalty, family, PAOK and the application of Game Theory to backgammon..! “I’ll never forget the moment when Dr. Kazazis told me that I had passed the ‘remedial’ class after the final exam”, remembers Damianos Kalabratzidis, class of ’96. Fast forward to ten years after graduation and we find Damianos a successful Regional Marketing Director for the North American Division of Compass Group in New Jersey... read more about Damianos |
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THANOS KARANATSIOS
'00, MBA '04 Distinguished athlete and now businessman talks about his career and life Thanos Karanatsios graduated from ACT with a B.Sc. in Business Administration in 2000. All graduating students left the ceremony with a degree that night; Thanos left with a degree and an award, the “Best Athlete of the Millennium Class” award. Four years later, he graduated again, this time with an MBA degree. And again, he didn’t graduate just any old way. He was singled out to share the “Best MBA Student” award for the year. This moment vividly stands out in his mind: “Prior to college, I had been recognized as an athlete, as a champion and member of the Greek National Handball Team. Then, after years of personal sacrifices and effort, ACT recognized my contributions and achievement in a completely different field, the field of studies”... read more about
Thanos |
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| Who do you want to "meet"? Suggestions welcome! | ||
| Students' Corner | |
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A STUDY ABROAD STUDENT'S EXPERIENCE My ACT experience has been truly a remarkable one. Coming here, I didn't really know what to expect but, in due time, I was welcomed into the community and city with open arms. Participating in this program has really been a life experience I will never forget. It's expanded my horizons and given me a chance to grow and mature. Everyone was so helpful and welcoming. I've made friendships I know will last a lifetime! And, I fell so in love with Thessaloniki and the program I decided to transfer. I highly recommend this study abroad program!
-Alexandra Platis, |
DE FACTO: The end of 2006 brings to life a new and important effort lead by two current ACT students of IR, Christopher Sfetsios and Nicholas Piston. Chris and Nicholas have every reason to celebrate, as a long-dreamed project becomes reality. The two teamed up with IR buffs on our and other campuses and created DE FACTO, the first ever student journal in ACT’s history focused on issues in the field of International Relations. Chris and Nicholas, with support from HSS department faculty members, created a stage for students to express their views and discuss various topics in the field of International Affairs. The first issue of DE FACTO...(read more) |
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Careerwire >> Contributed by Lena Giakoumopoulou, Career Services Director, 2310 398 202, lenag@act.edu | ||
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MESSAGE FOR ACT SENIORS: A note for seniors who will be actively involved in the job search process in the Spring 2007 semester. The holiday season is a good time to catch up on loose ends and define your strategy for the job search process. And if you haven't already done so, stop by the career office to schedule an appointment for a one-on-one consultation to prepare your CV and get started. The Spring semester will be a busy one! |
TOP 10
CAREER BOOKS
Learn about interviewing smarts, salary negotiation, job search strategies and more. The 10th annual list of the top 10 career books selected by Dr. Ronald Krannich, CEO of Impact Publications, the US top online bookstore specializing in careers, and Joyce Lain Kennedy from Tribune Media Services is here. |
UPCOMING EVENTS March 2007: The annual Career Fair event hosted by Kariera in the Thessaloniki Port Authority. April and May 2007: ACT’s annual Career Fair will take place in the Bissell Library. |
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JOB SEARCH AND CAREER NETWORKING TIPS HERE Since you never know when you might need it, your career network should be in place for you, both for job searching and for moving up the career ladder. |
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| There’s no time like the present to get a jump start on your career. More details in the next issue. | ||
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Alumni Association News
>> contributed by Eliza Salpisti,‘02, Secretary of ACT Alumni Association |
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ALUMNI RED XMAS PARTY A special thank you goes to all alumni, students, faculty and friends who responded to our traditional call for the celebration of the warmest time of the year by attending our RED PARTY at OMILOS, on Thursday, December 14th. All tables were full; the place was totally crowded and the atmosphere was really cozy, just like Christmas time should be! Our photographer made it to the party and all of you were ready to pose for a memory photo! Dancing till morning hours is a tradition always honored! We promise you more such events to follow soon! Wishing that you all enjoy a dream Christmas vacation with your loved ones! May 2007 bring the best to each and every one of you and your loved ones! MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!! |
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ALUMNI VASILOPITA CUTTING The Alumni Council members wish to invite the entire ACT community, family and friends to our VASILOPITA cutting event to give a warm welcome to the year 2007 from all of us together! The event will take place at IDOLLS
bar/café Lots of presents, sponsored by kind alumni, will be waiting for all you! We hope you embrace our effort and attend this event as well! Let’s all make a special wish for the year 2007 at Idolls that Thursday! Bring your cameras and video cameras for capturing our moments together and posting them online in order to share them with our fellow alumni who live far away from Thessaloniki! |
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ALUMNI WEBSITE Fellow alumni, |
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>> TO TOP |
ACT Vision is a monthly newsletter for Students, Alumni, Faculty and Staff. To ensure you continue to receive VISION in your mailbox or to subscribe to it, click here. |