Members of the Catholic Universities Partnership (CUP) will meet at Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University in Tbilisi, Georgia for a conference titled “Resilience and Recovery: Challenges for Universities.” Attendance at this in-person conference is by invitation.
All times below are Georgia Standard Time (EST+8).
Wednesday, May 18
Welcome
3:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Vaja Vardidze, Rector and the Most Reverend José Avelino Bettencourt ComC, OMR, apostolic Nunzio in Georgia and Armenia.
Roundtable: Current Status at the Ukrainian Catholic University
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
- Chair: Clemens Sedmak, Professor of Social Ethics & Director, Nanovic Institute
- Yaryna Boychuk, Director of Business School, Ukrainian Catholic University
- Fr. Piotr Janas O.P., Professor, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome
- Giorgi Meskhi, Professor, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University
- Michael Pippenger, Vice President and Associate Provost for Internationalization, University of Notre Dame
Keynote: “The Role of Universities in Post-Conflict Societies”
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Ucha Bachtadze, Professor, Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani University
Thursday, May 19
Lecture: “Seeing Humanity in the Concept of Resilience”
8:45 - 9:45 a.m.
Paul Perrin, Director of Evidence and Learning, Pulte Institute for Global Development, Associate Professor of the Practice, University of Notre Dame
Panel: Resilience
10:00 - 11:15 a.m.
- Chair: Monica Caro, Senior Associate Director, Nanovic Institute
- “Facing academic adversity with the power of Christian belief": Marek Babic, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Letters, Catholic University in Ružomberok
- “Confronting a brutal reality: resilience in prison and Gulag”: David Buckley, Advisory Board Member, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Managing Director, General Atlantic
- “Fostering resilience among students amid hybrid threats”: Marie Eliadze, Assistant Professor, Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani University
- “Resilience, social memory, and the importance of rural heritage”: Ian Kuijt, Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame and William Donaruma, Professor of the Practice in Filmmaking, University of Notre Dame
Lecture: “The Catholic Educator in a Time of War”
11:15 - 12:00 p.m.
A. James McAdams, William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs, University of Notre Dame
Lecture: “Forgiveness and reconciliation after the war in Croatia and collective trauma and transgenerational transfer of memory”
11:30 - 12:15 p.m.
Jasna Ćurković Nimac, Associate Professor of Communications, Catholic University of Croatia
Panel: Postwar Recovery
12:30 - 3:45 p.m.
- Chair: Grant Osborn, Associate Director, Nanovic Institute
- Bogusław Migut, Professor of Theology, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, “Theology at the service of Christian formation to resistance and regeneration”.
- Hildegund Müller, Associate Professor of Classic, University of Notre Dame, “European academia through and recovery: examples from history”.
- Nino Papachashvili, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Tbilisi State University, “Eastern partnership countries: transformation and the European future”
- Željko Tanjić, Rector, Catholic University of Croatia, “Political, social, and religious challenges in post-war Croatia”
Roundtable: Resilience, Recovery, and Solidarity
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
- Chair: Clemens Sedmak, Professor of Social Ethics & Director, Nanovic Institute
- Rev. Robert Dowd, C.S.C., Vice President and Associate Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
- Hrvoje Štefančić, Professor, Vice Rector for International Cooperation, Catholic University of Zagreb
- Natalie Yakymets, Deputy Director for Research, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy, Ukrainian Catholic University
Closing Remarks and Next Steps
5:00 - 5:15 p.m.
Vaja Vardidze, Rector, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University