Students attending the European Humanities University, Vilnius, September 2007.
WINNIPEG, MB – For the next three months, Dr. Tom Faulkner, Faculty of Theology, will be exploring the religious foundations of combat ethics with young adults from Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. Dr. Faulkner is the only visiting professor invited to teach at the European Humanities University, located in Vilnius, Lithuania for the upcoming April to June semester.
“We live in a peaceful place. I expect to learn from the students, who have grown up experiencing occupations,” said Faulkner. “We will draw on the classics, studying The Iliad, novels such as All is Quiet on the Western Front, religious texts including Buddhist writings, the Bible, the Koran. The purpose is to introduce the students to the humanitarian tradition, ideas and beliefs.”
Faulkner spent two days lecturing in Vilnius last September and as a result was invited back by the EHU.
Founded in 1992 in Minsk by a group of intellectuals determined to challenge the conservative traditions inherited from Soviet higher education, the European Humanities University has become a leader in the internationalization and liberalization of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 2004 EHU was forced to terminate its activities in Belarus. However, thanks to political, administrative, and financial support from the Government of Lithuania, European Union, governments, the MacArthur Foundation in the USA, the university managed to resume its operations in Lithuania and open bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for Belarusian students. In February 2006 the Government of Lithuania granted to the EHU the official status of a Lithuanian university.
Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President & Vice Chancellor of UWinnipeg, is the only Canadian on the Board of Directors of the MacArthur Foundation.
“Dr. Axworthy and UWinnipeg’s commitment to reaching students at home and across the globe affords me the support to go to Lithuania for the semester,” said Faulkner. “I expect I will find students who are interested in personal improvement but who also want to serve their communities. I admire their courageous commitment to the study of the humanities. What can you say about anyone willing to pass the KGB at the Belarusian border every week just to get to class?”
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Dr. Faulkner is available for media interviews until his departure on April 9, 2008.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Diane Poulin, Communications, University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135 E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
