Palacký University Rector Martin Procházka met with university officials, diplomats, politicians, businessmen, and representatives of cultural life in Iowa during his short official visit to the United States. At the end of last week, he attended the 50th anniversary celebrations of the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library (NCSML) in Cedar Rapids, a long-standing partner of the university.
The dozens of distinguished guests from the USA, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia also included Czech President Petr Pavel and his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini. During the celebrations, the university was given a unique opportunity to officially inaugurate, in the presence of the Czech president, the Josef Jařab Scholarship Fund, which aims to support mutual exchanges of students and academics between UP and American universities.
“The presidential visit was scheduled down to the minute, so I am very grateful that President Pavel found a moment in his busy programme for Palacký University. Thanks for this goes to the director of the museum, Cecilia Rokusek, who’s been helping us with the implementation of the fund and with whom we could briefly present our idea to the President. Josef Jařab, Rector Emeritus of our university, tirelessly developed Czech-American relations, especially at the academic level, so he fully deserves to have the President of the Czech Republic at the birth of the scholarship bearing his name,” said Rector Procházka.
During his visit to Iowa, he also met with Thomas Feld, Rector Emeritus of Mount Mercy University. “He was a very good friend of Professor Jařab; he fondly remembers his visits to Olomouc and meetings with our students. They had worked together in the early 1990s and it was he who gave us the idea to implement such a project some time ago. Therefore, I am happy that we have managed to fulfil this vision and that we have received support for our scholarship from influential personalities of American academic life,” said UP Rector.
The other distinguished guests with whom Rector Procházka met during the celebrations in Cedar Rapids were, among others, the Czech Ambassador to Washington Miloslav Stašek, former Czech Ambassador to the USA Martin Palouš, and former Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Pavol Demeš, with whom he discussed the possibilities of cooperation between the Czech, Slovak, and U.S. academic environment. The UP Rector also discussed practical applications with representatives of the Czech Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the manufacturing sector, as a large Czech business delegation arrived in Iowa along with the presidential visit. With representatives of American universities, he discussed the possibilities of developing scientific collaboration and supporting student and academic exchanges.
The celebrations in Cedar Rapids culminated in the launch of the astronomical clock, which the local museum built after the model of the Prague astronomical clock. Instead of the twelve apostles, however, figures symbolising the professions and everyday lives of the first Czech and Slovak immigrants can be seen parading there every hour. The ceremony was attended by the Presidents of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. During the celebrations, Rector Procházka also met with the Czech and Slovak makers of the astronomical clock and another local cultural representative, Katelyn Bouska, an American pianist, musicologist, and teacher with Czech roots.
