Community Update

Christopher
Ball, of Middletown, director of the Central
European Institute and Istvan
Szechenyi Chair in International Economics at Quinnipiac University, will be
inaugurated as Honorary Consul of Hungary for the state of Connecticut on
Thursday, Sept.  19.

Ball’s selection is in recognition of his
two-decade association with Hungary.

“It’s exciting,” Ball said. “I’ve been
working with Hungary and the region for 20 years. Hopefully, it will be another
20 years.”

The inauguration ceremony will be attended
by Gyorgy Szapary, Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, and is scheduled
for 5 p.m. in the School
of Law’s Grand Courtroom. A reception will follow in the Mancheski
Executive Seminar Room in the Lender School
of Business Center on the university’s Mount Carmel Campus.

As honorary consul, Ball will be responsible
for supporting Hungarians in the United States as well as the Hungarian community
in Connecticut, facilitating political and business collaboration between
Hungary and the United States and introducing Hungarian culture and history to
Americans.

“I would not have been able to do all of
this without the support of Quinnipiac,” Ball said. “I think Quinnipiac really
understands niches and niche markets. We’re good at specializing. Our medical
school has a special focus – primary care – and there is nothing else offered
quite like the programs we have with Hungary and that we’re building with
Central Europe. Quinnipiac promotes internationalization and diversification.
This is a perfect fit.”

The aim of the Central European Institute is
to build bridges between the United States and the nations of Central Europe by
fostering relationships in academics, business and culture.

“The honorary consul’s main task is to
further linkages between the U.S.,” Ball said.  “This fits perfectly into
the CEI’s mission. Being officially recognized as an honorary consul by the
U.S. State Department really helps put the CEI and Quinnipiac in general on the
diplomatic map in the United States and worldwide which is where, I believe, we
should be.”

Ball started as an assistant professor in
economics at Quinnipiac in 2003. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics
from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and his doctorate in
macroeconomics and industrial organization from Texas A & M University.

Ball moved to Budapest in 1994 and worked in
foreign policy as a project consultant and later as director for the Hungarian
Atlantic Council. He focused on arranging conferences and seminars and acting
as an information source in Hungary on NATO and other integration-related
issues.

“I just sort of fell in love with the whole
region and people. I felt at home there from the beginning,” said Ball, who
also lectured at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

Ball met his wife Emese in Hungary. They
have two children, Julianna and Matthew.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational,
nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two
hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and
2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs
of study in its School
of Business and Engineering, School
of Communications, School
of Education, School
of Health Sciences, School
of Law, Frank
H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School
of Nursing and College
of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top
regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s
Best Colleges issue. The 2014 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s
Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s
programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton
Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named
Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please
visit www.quinnipiac.edu.
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