On December 9, 2004, the Austrian Ambassador to the United States, Eva Nowotny, presented her Letter of Credence to Her Excellency Dame Ivy Dumont, D.C.M.G., Governor-General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Ambassador Nowotny is the sixth Austrian Ambassador to the islands.

While Austria has already donated more than 34 million US dollars in aid for victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia, the Austrian government has now pledged to increase its spending to approximately 66 million US dollars over three years.

Dr. Manfred Nowak In November, 2004, the head of the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights appointed the Austrian expert on human rights, Manfred Nowak, as Special Rapporteur on Torture. On December 1, 2004, Mr. Nowak officially succeeded Theo van Boven of Holland.

In 1982, a group of young scholars established the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, a Think Tank and Center for Advanced Studies. The idea was to bring together scholars and intellectuals from Eastern and Western Europe. Its mission was to reflect on issues concerning society and to alter the societies themselves. In short, it had a two-fold dimension, both reflective and practical, seeking to influence change by providing the intellectual basis for its policy-related programs affecting the social and political problems of the region.

German Language & Art & Culture & Sports

On their 90th tour of the United States, Ambassador Eva Nowotny welcomed the Vienna Choir Boys at a special appearance at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on October 26, 2004 before an appreciative audience of some four hundred guests attending Austria's National Day (see front cover). The choir presented four songs including selections from Robert Schuman and Johann Strauss, along with the national anthems of Austria, the European Union and the United States.

Following a century of dialogue and exchange between the two cities of Chicago and Vienna, a two-day international conference entitled Chicago - Vienna - Chicago: Urban Icons and the Transatlantic Relationship was held on November 11 and 12, 2004 at the University of Chicago. The conference aimed at exploring the cultural links and identities shared by the two cities. Specifically, it focused on cultural transfers, urban development, migration, and the role of music in the urban perceptions of both cities.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Klosterneuburg/Vienna presents Visions of America, a majestic sweep through the dynamics of American art beginning with the early 1960s until the present day. More than 130 eclectic works of art by American artists selected from two important private collections, the Sonnabend Collection of New York and the Essl Collection of Klosterneuburg/Vienna are on exhibit until March 6, 2005.

Robert Dassanowsky, Associate Professor and Chair of Languages and Cultures, and Director of Film Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, has been named 2004 U.S. Professor of the Year for Colorado by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). These associated organizations select one professor per state and four national recipients annually to be named a "U.S. Professor of the Year," one of the most prestigious awards in college teaching. On November 18, 2004, the honorees were presented to the Washington D.C. press corps at an awards luncheon at the historic Willard Intercontinental Hotel and were given an evening reception on Capitol Hill.