Welcome Ambassador Robert Peck and Congratulations Laura Surtees!!!

The new Canadian Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, Robert Peck, presented his credentials on Tuesday to President Papoulias. One of his first official duties was to visit the Institute on Wednesday. Ambassador Peck knows Athens and the Institute very well as he served as the Political Counselor at the Embassy from 1995 to1998. He helped tirelessly the Canadian Institute to deal with the many challenges and difficulties it was confronting in the mid to late 1990s.

After meeting our Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, Chris Wallace, our Wilfrid Laurier University Intern, Haley MacEachern, and our volunteer, Chris Stewart, we discussed over coffee the present state of affairs and the long-term aspirations of the Institute. It is clear that Ambassador is a man of ideas and energy and seeks to find productive synergies between CIG and the Embassy. We look forward to working with him and his able staff in making Canada and the Institute more prominent in Athens and in Greece. He was given the full tour of the Library, the Offices and the Hostel. When he was last stationed in Athens all of these components were situated in a single apartment on the third floor. We’ve come a long way, baby, eh?!

Welcome Ambassador Peck!!!

Great News!
The Institute through its undergraduate internships and its graduate fellowships provide hands-on practical learning experiences for young Canadians aspiring to an academic career. In addition, they have ample opportunities to learn more about Greece – ancient and modern – and to meet others like them at the other Foreign Archaeological Schools and Institutes who are on the long road that forms a life’s work.

In 2001/2 Laura Surtees was a Canadian Museums Association Intern at the Canadian Institute through the Youth International Internship program funded by the Canadian government. Laura’s star continues to rise as a Ph.D. candidate in Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. On Tuesday she was officially awarded one of the three, prestigious Whiting Fellowships at Bryn Mawr for this academic year. These are given by the Mrs Giles Whiting Foundation. This Fellowship will enable her to finish in 2012 her doctoral dissertation, which is entitled, "A Thessalian City: The Urban Survey of Kastro Kallithea". Congratulations Laura!!! Bravo sou!!!

Cordially,
David W. Rupp
Director