About The University of Georgia-Croatia Partnership Fund
How a 100-year-old letter led to the establishment of the UGA-Croatia Partnership Fund
Dr. Lawrence V. Phillips knew nothing about UGA's outreach to his ancestral home of Croatia until he needed to have a 100-year-old letter translated.
The retired physician was writing a memoir about his life and family when he obtained a letter written in the early 1900s by a woman in the Croatian village of Zaloka, where his mother, Dora Suljada, had been born. He was told that the letter contained information about her.
Dr. Phillips contacted his daughter, Carol Cotton, a professor of health promotion and behavior at UGA's College of Public Health, to see if someone at UGA could translate the letter.
Cotton contacted Rusty Brooks, director of the Vinson Institute's International Center, which has a Croatian outreach program aimed at strengthening government capacity through partnerships with organizations such as the Association of Cities and Towns, the Ivo Pilar Institute, and the University of Zagreb. Brooks then put Cotton in touch with Keith Langston, head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies. Within an hour, Langston faxed Cotton a translation of the letter.
The speed and willingness with which the University translated the letter prompted Dr. Phillips and his wife, Sarah Mae, to look closely at UGA's outreach to Croatia.
"I looked at the connections between the Vinson Institute and Croatia, and it was obvious that the University had a tremendous interest and emotional involvement in Croatia," Dr. Phillips said.
Dr. and Mrs. Phillips then gifted $500,000 to the University to create the UGA-Croatia Partnership Fund—the result of what Dr. Phillips has said might be "the most expensive Croatian translation in history."
Today the UGA-Croatia Partnership Fund provides service-learning opportunities for UGA students in Croatia, exchanges between faculty at UGA and the University of Zabgreb, financial support to help UGA students study in Croatia, and internships for UGA students in Croatia. The gift has also enabled UGA and the University of Zagreb to explore partnerships in the areas public health and economic development.
Learn more about opportunities for advancing UGA's outreach to Croatia: Guidelines for Accessing Funds from the University of Georgia-Croatia Program Fund
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