President Aspegren on AUBG, Blagoevgrad and the Future




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  • 2014-09-28 20:02:56
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Kevin Aspegren recently became AUBG's new president. His resume includes both academic and business experience. Although he has lived and worked in Eastern Europe in Pecs, Hungary at a local higher-education institution, Bulgaria is a brand new experience for him."My interactions throughout the community have been very favorable and welcoming. They are so pleased the University is here in town," he said. Blagoevgrad itself appears to have changed over the several months during which students were gone for [caption id="attachment_21493" align="alignright" width="230" caption="New AUBG President Kevin Aspegren. Photo: AUBG"]New AUBG President Kevin Aspegren. Photo: AUBG[/caption] the summer. Some of these changes could be attributed to Blagoevgrad's candidacy to become a European Capital of Culture. In a nutshell, once the European Union appoints a city or cities with the title, they, in turn, organize a series of cultural events emphasizing and demonstrating European values. It appears that AUBG had its contribution to that too. "I really believe in advancing culture of a community. I think the university is instrumental in that and should be involved in the community as well," President Aspegren said. The campaign for Blagoevgrad was launched in the last months of 2013 with an official presentation at the European Parliament in Brussels and followed by an advertising campaign. The town's candidacy incorporated three key microeconomic projects, supported by the town's mayor, Atanas Kambitov - a business expo center, a project called "Blagoevgrad - a Balkan University Center," and a project for a transportation and logistics center to the "Struma" highway. All those are in union with Bulgaria's development strategy "Europe 2020" and are focused on long-term achievable goals. The idea behind the contest was for the chosen city to have the opportunity to develop its cultural and economic resources and to be able to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, a study conducted by the European Commission in 2004 established that the choice of European Capital of Culture served as a catalyst for the cultural development and transformation of the city. "I was involved in the European Culture Capital 2010 in my city of Pecs, Hungary. I got involved in the process in late 2005, I saw the transition and progress that took place all the way up to 2010. I saw what a [caption id="attachment_21494" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo by Toma Tetimov"]Photo by Toma Tetimov[/caption] transformation meant to not only the city but the region. And I’ve seen how the city has learned lessons in the four years since it has been a cultural capital and I just think it could be a tremendous opportunity," President  Aspegren said. Despite our President's close collaboration with city officials and the Mayor himself, Blagoevgrad did not win. Instead, Plovdiv won over Sofia, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo. Plovdiv's formal nomination by the EU Council of Ministers will take place in May 2015. Despite the fact that Blagoevgrad did not come out the winner, there are long-term positive effects to be seen. " It just wasn't our year... The good news is that the Mayor and I, and others, we’re still committed to doing up to 35 or 40 per cent of what we were planning to do anyway. The money is already there … we’re just going to make sure we have the spirit of cooperation," Aspegren said.