Richard Von Weizsäcker Professorship Created at JHU SAIS
Robert Bosch Stiftung Funds New Professorship at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Daniel Hamilton, Director of the SAIS Transatlantic Center, Named First Richard von Weizsäcker Professor
Washington, D.C.-04/17/2003-The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University and the Robert Bosch Stiftung of Stuttgart, Germany, today announced the creation of the Richard von Weizsäcker Professorship at SAIS, in honor of the Federal Republic of Germany's 6th president.
Daniel Hamilton, director of the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations, has been appointed the Richard von Weizsäcker Professor. Former President von Weizsäcker will visit SAIS on Monday, 04/28 for the formal inauguration of the professorship.
"The Richard von Weizsäcker Professor honors the accomplishments and insight of one of Germany's great democratic leaders," said Heiner Gutberlet, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, upon announcing the award. "We are also proud to deepen our association with Johns Hopkins University and with SAIS, which has a distinguished tradition of scholarship and has made many contributions to greater transatlantic understanding." Dieter Berg, the executive director of the foundation, added, "In these days it is more important than ever to strengthen the transatlantic dialogue. We will contribute to further intensify the relationship between our nations and in particular their citizens."
"This award from the Robert Bosch Stiftung provides international recognition and much-needed support for a program vital to building understanding of European-American relations," said Jessica Einhorn, dean of SAIS. "We at Johns Hopkins SAIS have huge admiration for Dan Hamilton's outstanding achievements in creating and fostering the center. We are honored to have Richard von Weizsäcker's name associated in such a meaningful way with SAIS."
"It is a great honor for me," said former President von Weizsäcker upon learning of the award, "and a significant token of the deeply founded German-American friendship. Due to the generosity of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Johns Hopkins SAIS, young Americans will have the chance to learn more about the ongoing process of European integration representing a political and economic landmark in the globalizing world."
"It is a tremendous honor to be associated with an individual as distinguished as Richard von Weizsäcker," said Hamilton, who also serves as executive director of the American Consortium on European Union Studies, a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason and American universities to advance greater understanding of the European Union in the nation's capital and beyond. "Richard von Weizsäcker has always challenged Europeans and Americans to stand by the values they profess, and to recognize their common responsibility to address broader global challenges that no nation can confront effectively alone. Our center has exactly this mandate, and we will work hard to live up to the high standards implied by an association with President von Weizsäcker. I am grateful to the Robert Bosch Stiftung and to SAIS for this opportunity."
The Robert Bosch Stiftung has provided core funding for the new professorship, and SAIS is committed to secure further funding to sustain the position. The model is the Steven Muller Development Professor of German Studies at SAIS's European campus in Bologna, Italy. That professorship was also inaugurated with core funding from the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
For information about the Center for Transatlantic Relations, contact [email protected]. For information about the Robert Bosch Stiftung, contact www.bosch-stiftung.de.
Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker served a rare double term as the 6th president of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1984-1994. He has also served as the governing mayor of West Berlin (1981-1984) and as vice president of the Bundestag (1979-1981) as well a member of the Bundestag (1969-1981). He was a member of the Synod and the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany from 1967-1984. Dr. von Weizsäcker stretched the traditionally ceremonial position of Germany's president to reach across political, national and generational boundaries to address a wide range of controversial issues. On 05/8, 1985 - the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe - he made a dramatic speech to the Bundestag that articulated the historic responsibility of Germany and Germans for the crimes of Nazism. In his public addresses and in his writings, Dr. von Weizsäcker has been a strong and articulate advocate of democratic principles, tolerance and social responsibility. He has been actively involved in food aid activities targeted at relieving global hunger problems. He has served on many international commissions, notably as chairman of the Independent Working Group on the future of the United Nations and as one of three "Wise Men," appointed by European Commission President Romano Prodi to consider the future of the European Union. His publications include Von Deutschland aus; Die deutsche Geschichte geht weiter; Von Deutschland nach Europa; and Vier Zeiten. His memoirs have been published as From Weimar to the Wall, My Life in German Politics (1999). He has received many honors in his career, including an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1993; more than 11 other honorary doctorates ranging from the Weizmann Institute in Israel to Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard universities and the Ruprecht Karls University in Prague; the Leo Baeck Prize from the Central Council of Jews in Germany; and the Buber-Rosenzweig Medaillion from the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation.
Dr. Daniel S. Hamilton is the Richard von Weizsäcker Professor and director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. He is also the executive director of the American Consortium on European Union Studies (ACES). He is a scholar-practitioner of U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-European relations, having served most recently served as deputy assistant secretary of State for European Affairs and as associate director of the Policy Planning Staff for Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher. He was also the U.S. coordinator for Southeast European Stabilization, and served as senior policy adviser to U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke and the U.S. Embassy in Germany. He has a Ph.D and M.A. from SAIS and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Concordia College in 2002. He is a prolific author and commentator, well known in Germany for having coined the term "Berlin Republic" to describe the dilemmas facing unified Germany in his book Beyond Bonn: America and the Berlin Republic. Hamilton has also taught at the Free University of Berlin, served as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as deputy director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, and as the DaimlerChrysler Fellow at the American Institute of Contemporary German Studies of Johns Hopkins. He chairs the Robert Bosch Stiftung Fellows Program, is the U.S. president of the West-West Agenda, and is dean of Waldsee German Language Village, North America's premier residential immersion program in German language and culture for young people ages 7-18, sponsored by Concordia College. He was awarded the Federal Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) by former German President Roman Herzog and holds the U.S. Department of State's Superior Honor Award.