Immigration and economic growth are two of the more consequential topics in European studies today.
The Nanovic Institute is pleased to welcome for the fall semester two visiting scholars who not only study these topics but are doing something about them.
Poland has captured the attention of many observers interested in the competing claims of national sovereignty and transnational human rights. Prof. Tomasz Sieniow, for example, is one. He earned his Ph.D. in Law from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and holds multiple posts in that university's Institute of European Studies and Faculty of Law. Prof. Sieniow's current research is to compare laws and policies regarding asylum and immigration in the European Union. His interests have had a practical extension: since 2004, Sieniow coordinates his university's Legal Clinic for Refugees and he serves as President of the Board of the Rule of Law Institute Foundation. He previously was a visiting summer scholar at the Nanovic Institute in 2008. He now joins the institute as a semester fellow in order to compare Polish to current US approaches to immigration law, border protection, and deportation.
Join Prof. Sieniow for his visiting scholar lunch & lecture entitled "Refugees in Europe: How can we Reconcile the Protection of Human Rights with Security?" on Thursday, November 2nd at 12:30 p.m. (View Details>>)
Often in conversations about immigration in Europen, the topic of economic growth (or lack thereof) arises. How can such growth be stimulated in both effective and responsible ways?
In post-communist Ukraine today, the culture of economic growth is immensely important. Prof. Sophia Opatska, founding Dean of the Lviv Business School in western Ukraine, is cultivating precisely this kind of business culture. She earned her Ph.D. in Management in 2002 at the Institute of Regional Researches in Ukraine and has been trained since then at the Wharton School of Business and the Ross School of Management at the University of Michigan. After serving as the MBA Program Director at the Lviv Institute of Management (2001-2004) and at the Kyiv Mohyla Business School (2004-2007), she was chosen in 2008 to be the founding dean of the Lviv Business School at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). In addition to her duties as dean, she currently serves as the Vice Rector of Academic Affairs for the entire university. Fluent in Ukrainian, English, and Russian, Prof. Opatska joins the Nanovic Institute this fall semester in order to learn more about how to stimulate and nurture cultures of innovation and entrepreneurship through micro-lending, intellectual property law, and "so-called soft infrastructure: the attitudes of managers and organizations toward organizational learning, development, and prosperity."
Professor Opatska will present her visiting scholar lecture entitled, "Creating Entrepreneurial Cultures: A View from Ukraine" on Thursday, November 16th at 12:30 p.m. (View Details>>)
The Institute will serve to liaise these two scholars and friends with Notre Dame faculty and students interested in these topics and working professionally in these areas.