History paper by Clark, Sylvia Csűrös; Ward, Judit Hajnal; Stewart, Molly
56ers 56 Years Later: The Hungarian Scholar Program at Rutgers University
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
The President's Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief facilitated the settlement of over 30,000 Hungarian refugees in the United States, who fled the country after the 1956 Revolution. Among them was a small group of promising scholars and graduate students, who were selected to participate in an intensive language immersion program organized at Rutgers University upon the initiation of the National Academy of Sciences in January 1957. Based on the documents from the papers of Rev. Bradford Abernethy, University Chaplain and Program Director, the authors explore the story of these talented scientists while also trying to discover what happened to them in the following 56 years. The authors utilize a variety of resources to retrieve information ranging from traditional archival records to modern social networking applications. Search techniques in multicultural setting as well as methods and best practices to evaluate online information are also discussed. The presentation is recommended to audiences interested in applying innovations of information science when creating a chronological and contextual history of events, however it also aims to contribute to the history of Hungarian immigrants after 1956.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Sylvia Csuros Clark is an Associate Professor of Marketing at St. John's Unversity's Tobin College of Business on Staten Island. She holds a Ph.D. in Consumer Behavior from CUNY, an M.B.A. in Quantitative Analysis from New York University, and a B.B.A. summa cum laude from Baruch College. She is also an alumna of the Hungarian Studies program at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, having fulfilled the requirements for a Hungarian minor and earned a certificate in Hungarian language. She passed the Hungarian State Proficiency Examination Advanced Level, certifying native proficiency of the educated speaker. Dr. Clark has taught a menu of courses in marketing over a thirty-year span, primarily at the upper-level undergraduate and master's levels. Her research interests cover such diverse areas as cognitive age, travel marketing, fashion marketing, teaching/learning style constructs, and aspects of Hungarian culture.
Judit Hajnal Ward is an information professional at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She holds a doctoral degree in linguistics from the University of Debrecen, Hungary, and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Rutgers. Her areas of specialization include library and information science. digital libraries, medical communication and informatics. She taught courses in linguistics, foreign languages and medical communication at the University of Debrecen before joining Rutgers as visiting professor of Hungarian Studies. Her research interests include human information behavior, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research methods, evaluation of information in the electronic environment, and Hungarian Studies in the United States. Currently she is the Director of Information Services of the Center of Alcohol Studies and Adjunct Faculty at the School of Communication and Information. She is also the North American Director of the European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages.
Molly Stewart is a part time reference librarian at the Center of Alcohol Studies Library, Rutgers University. Additionally, she works part time as an adult services librarian at Bridgewater Public Library. Prior to completing her MLIS at Rutgers University, she received a BA in Sociology from Douglass College, Rutgers University. During her time at CASL she has participated in several research projects and conference presentations including a longitudinal bibliometric study, profiling researchers, and creating user centered library applications for scholarly research.