The Canadian Hungarian Journal and the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation are organizing a lecture evening at the University of Ottawa, on May 25, 2009 at 7pm, which will include presentations by three Hungarian academics. Historian Mária Palasik of the Historical Archives of Hungarian State Security in Budapest will begin the evening by discussing the role that women and technology have played in Hungarian universities, while Róbert Takács of the Institute of Political History will give a lecture on censorship and self-censorship under János Kádár’s communist regime. Márton Pászti of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics will complement the evening with a presentation on applied human-computer interaction.

Each lecture will be 20 minutes in duration and there will be an opportunity for discussion and debate. Complimentary refreshments will also be served by the organizers. The event is scheduled for May 25, 2009, at 7:00pm, in Tabaret Hall room 323, at the University of Ottawa. Please see the event’s poster for more information.

Our three presenters are travelling to Ottawa in order to participate at the annual conference organized by the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC). This year’s conference is scheduled to take place at Carleton University on May 23-24, 2009, within the context of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The HSAC conference programme includes a wide array of interdisciplinary presentations, as well as a talk by Hungarian-Canadian author Anna Porter.

We believe that most of you who are participating in this year’s conference, have registered through the fedcan Congress office, but if you have not done so please do so now. HSAC benefits from your registration. We will be circulating the information about the conference to some local community members who might be interested in attending. If you have friends and acquaintances in the Ottawa region, please alert them to this. Interested non-member individuals do not need to register for the Congress but are expected to pay a daily $15 fee for attending any association programs. If you just come to one or two lectures there is no need to pay this fee. The evening event with Anna Porter is free and open to the public.

 We would like to draw your attention to a number of special features/events noted in the conference program:

1. As a pre-conference event, on Friday evening, May 22^nd we are fortunate in having Tamás Szabó, curator from the Szeged Móra Ferenc Museum to talk to us about the Giorgio Vasari painting in the museum’s collection, as well as other aspects of the Szeged collection.

2. On Saturday 23^rd, we have the talk by Anna Porter, preceded by a buffet supper in the same location. This replaces our usual dinner in a restaurant and we will need to charge for the costs of the supper (we are not yet sure of the amount but it will probably be $25 per person, including wine). This will be announced on the first day of the conference.

3. Finally, as a post conference event, on Monday May 25^th at 10 am we have arranged a special visit /tour to the Library and Archives of Canada’s super-modern Preservation centre where staff will have a display of some of the Hungarian relevant materials of the national collection (books, archival materials, art and other visual material). We are grateful to the Embassy of Hungary for helping to transport participants to the Preservation Centre.  

The location of the conference is at the Carleton University Campus in the Hertzberg building. However, the talk by Mr Szabo and by Anna Porter, as well as the lecture evening on May 25th, are on the campus of the University of Ottawa. Please take a careful look at the programs and the poster. Some of us locals will try to provide transportation certainly on Saturday evening from Carleton to Ottawa U for the supper and Anna Porter.

 Logistics, and other useful information:

 -The congress will distribute bottled water for each panel/session, but staff will ask the session chairs if they wish to „opt out,” for environmental reasons. Catered coffee breaks will still include bottled water as well.
 
Swine Flu Concerns:
  
-The congress is cooperating with Ottawa’s pandemic planning committee and with Carleton’s Health Services
 
-Hand sanitizers will be widely available on campus, especially in the Field House.
 
Information for Delegates:

-The Congress will set up an information desk at Ottawa’s MacDonald-Laurier Airport to assist visitors, but a similar booth will not be available at the train station.
 
-There will be shuttle service available from the Carleton residences to the Ottawa Airport. Return fare: $20.
 
-Shuttle bus service will be offered free of charge between Carleton and 11 hotels in Ottawa. The Congress guide provides a list of hotels. All buses will run every 15 minutes in the morning and every 15 minutes in the evening, with service suspended during the rest of the day.

-As Carleton is a fairly large campus, delegates with reduced mobility can make use of golf carts, which will run between the Field House (place of registration) and the University Centre. These golf carts will be available between 7.30 and 17.00.
 
-Luggage storage will be available for all delegates at „Delegate Services,” or at the residences, for those with on-campus accommodation
 -Parking will be available for $8 per day
 
-There will be a complimentary breakfast on campus in the Residence Dining Room for all delegates on Monday. Those who are staying an extra day may take advantage of this.