Honorary Doctorate to Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler (Seminar for Finno-Ugrian Studies)
On December 1, 2016, the University of Tartu (Estonia) has awarded an honorary doctorate to Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler (Seminar for Finno-Ugrian Studies, Göttingen), recognizing his outstanding research on Finno-Ugrian languages, as well as the longstanding and fruitful collaboration between the University of Göttingen and the University of Tartu.
The honorary degree was conferred on Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler in a festive ceremony on the university’s jubilee. A total of five honorary doctorates were awarded during the celebration: Two in the humanities and one each in social sciences, natural sciences and medicine. Besides that, the doctoral students of 2016 were presented with their PhD certificates and an Estonian film director received a lifetime-achievement-award for his contributions for the Estonian national identity.
In recognition of his efforts for the German-Estonian friendship, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler had already received the Marienland Cross by the Estonian president in 2008. Following the award presentation, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler gave a thank you speech in Estonian language: He is the fourth scholar from Göttingen who has received an honorary doctorate from Tartu (following Gert von Pistohlkors, Arnold Hasselblatt and Carl Joachim Claassen). A video recording of the full ceremony can be found here.
The University of Tartu had an eventful history: It was founded in 1632, now being the second oldest university in the former Swedish empire (only Uppsala is older). Its roots, however, date back to 1583, when Livland was Polish and Jesuits established a school of higher education. During the 19th century, Tartu was the most important Baltic university within the Russian Empire, before it became the National University of Estonia in 1918.
Since 1989, University of Göttingen has a contractual partnership with the University of Tartu. The collaboration was established by Prof. (em.) Arnold Hasselblatt, who also curated Göttingen’s side of the partnership until 2003. From 2004 on, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler has been supervising the collaboration between the universities.
The partnership was funded by the DAAD within the framework of the “Ostpartnerschaften” program. It is an interdisciplinary partnership that aims to attract as many faculties and subjects as possible, enabling the exchange of different experiences and approaches towards research and teaching. During the last 14 years, students, teachers and researchers from the following disciplines have taken place in the exchange: Medicine, Physics, History, Arts, Classics, German Studies, Musicology, Cultural Anthropology, Assyriology (Oriental Studies), Archaeology, Slavic Studies, Finno-Ugrian Studies, Theology, Law, and Economic Sciences. Members of the university management and employees of the SUB library have also taken part in the exchange.
Further information can be found here.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Winkler
Philosophy Faculty (Seminar for Finno-Ugrian Studies)
e-mail: ewinkle@gwdg.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/de/107985.html
