| Traveling Scholar Teaches Ethics and Global Development in Central Europe  Prague
on Monday. Bratislava on Tuesday. Vienna on Wednesday.
Bill Bagatelas,
SIS/MA ’85, is living the life of a true international scholar.
“I enjoy what I do…I don’t mind the traveling. I catch
up on reading and it gives me a chance to write,” he says.
A professor
and resident at City University in Bratislava, Slovakia, Bagatelas treasures his
life as a nomadic professor. His travel time almost equals his
classroom time, as he teaches primarily in Bratislava, but also travels
to Prague and Vienna two nights a week to teach at the Anglo-American
College and the International University, respectively. At all three universities,
he teaches courses in international relations, international business,
political science, and EU studies.
Bagatelas found his way to Bratislava by way of his hometown of Moline,
Ill., where he taught at St. Ambrose University. In August of 1999, a friend
and her family returned to Illinois from Slovakia, and in talking with
her Bagatelas realized the opportunity to really make use of his international
affairs degree. After many phone and e-mail exchanges with the City University
in Bratislava, Slovakia, Bagatelas packed his bags and moved to Bratislava,
where he began his overseas teaching career.
Planning to stay for only
a year, he has been there five years now and is a published author, chair
of a newly founded political institute, and a well-known professor in
three prominent cities.
As a student himself, Bagatelas remembers being quiet and reserved, working during the day and taking classes in the evenings, leaving little time to
socialize at the School of International Service.
However, his interest in international studies grew with his interactions
with international students. “I met a lot of wonderful people from
overseas and got to know a lot about the issues back in their home countries,”
he remembers. Completing his thesis on U.S.-Soviet nuclear weapons and
related diplomacy in Europe, Bagatelas continued to have an interest in
Central Europe political and economic development, eventually leading
him to City University in 1999.
This March, Bagatelas and coauthor Bruno Sergi published their third
book, Ethical Interpretations of Post-Communist Transition Economics and
Politics in Europe. The book presents a number of up-to-date studies,
offering new methods for focusing upon the complexity of transformation
economics and politics in Central and Eastern Europe. This is Bagatelas and Sergi's third book collaboration in the last year regarding economics and development
in Central and Eastern Europe. “We started collaborating two years
ago, and started writing one year ago. We were much more productive than
we thought we would be,” he notes.
Bagatelas’ next endeavor is the Bratislava International Studies
Institute (BISI), of which he is cofounder and chair. BISI will
concern itself with a variety of issues related to global development,
specifically within the European Union. BISI seeks to create a global
writers group, in which former presidents, prime ministers, foreign and
finance ministers participate with BISI in “establishing a global
consensus on a variety of issues concerning global development economics
and politics.”
BISI's first conference will be held in June,
related to the Slovak economy and EU membership, development economics, and politics
in central Europe. “I would most certainly welcome American University professors in
all areas of specialization to write, research, and conduct policy initiatives
with and through BISI,” says Bagatelas.
-Ashley Ferrell, '07
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