Why University of Tartu?
Senior Research Fellow Leif Ove Lindgren
Post-Doctoral Senior Research Fellow (molecular and cell biology) at the Institute of Technology, previously held a post-doctoral position at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki.
Leif Ove is nailing up his PhD thesis after completing it. Ritual "spiking" of a dissertation to the wall when making it available to the public is an old academic tradition practiced at several Swedish universities.
"I was working at the same department as Dr. Hannes Kollist, my current group-leader. He informed me that there was a work opportunity at the Institute of Technology in Tartu. When I registered on the ETIS database I found out more about available research grants.
It is a good opportunity for me to participate in building a new plant molecular biology laboratory in Tartu. I can directly influence the techniques and strategies applied to our research projects here. I also think that the University is very ambitious about bringing research up to a higher level. It seems Estonia is currently putting quite a lot of resources into research and the university of Tartu is clearly building for the future. Even though there already are several established research groups here, there will be room for several more. If one wants to participate in creating new laboratories and research fields, the University of Tartu is a very good place indeed. The university also has a strong historical tradition of research.“
Jennifer Uhler
English teacher (English Language Fellow Program supported by the U.S. State Department) at the University of Tartu, previously a Fulbright Teaching Assistant working as an English language teacher at the University of Craiova and University of Transylvania in Romania.
Here is Jennifer at one of her creative and interactive language teaching sessions, which are highly appreciated by session participants.
“I discovered the position at the University of Tartu through one of the program recruiters who advocated strongly about the positive professional environment and opportunities offered in Tartu. After making contact with representatives from the International Relations Office and learning more about the position, I was convinced that the University of Tartu would offer me a unique cultural and professional growth experience as a language teacher and world citizen.
Estonia itself is a fantastic place, and, located in the midst of this small wooded country in the northern Baltics, is another fantastic and thoughtful place for innovative and forward-looking academic work. The University of Tartu has a lot to offer its faculty, students, staff, and community. As a language teacher working with faculty and staff, I have had the unique possibility to step into the inside of this institution and learn about it from its most fervent products and stakeholders. For the last two years, I have taught English to academic faculty and staff primarily for the purposes of working with international educational audiences. My work life has been pleasantly spent teaching language and multicultural teaching skills to a diverse audience of academics – chemists, folklorists, linguists, lawyers, dentists, biologists, historians, mathematicians, semioticians, and computer scientists. The doors to the university and Estonian culture have been opened for me through conversations with such distinguished and hard-working representatives of this institution. I have gained important personal and professional insights to my work, but, most strikingly, I have also learned that this university is one that is progressive and dynamic. Participants in my courses have been perceptive and open to asking questions, reforming practice, and continued learning. Many of them have a strong commitment to providing good educational experiences to their students and at the same time continuing to develop their scholarly careers. I have been challenged by their questions and inspired by their creative and practical responses to the changing linguistic demands of their academic careers. UT has unquestionably left its mark on my abilities to teach, and, in the future, I will look back on my two-year experience here with gratitude for the patience, creativity, tolerance, and new perspectives it gave me.“
Professor Emeritus Rein Taagepera
Industrial physicist, DuPont Co. 1964-1970; UCI faculty member since 1970, professor 1978-1994, now emeritus; Chair of UCI Program in Politics & Society 1978 and 1983-85;
President, Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies 1986-88; Founding dean of School of Social Sciences, Tartu University 1991-94; Professor of Political Science, Tartu University, 1994-98, now emeritus
"Tartu is my childhood hometown, so my special motivation for working at the University of Tartu cannot be shared by most potential faculty members from abroad. When walking from the Department of Political Science to the modern building where I lecture, I actually pass the hospital where I was born. However, after an absence of almost 50 years, my adjustment problems in 1992 were rather typical of any foreign faculty member. Since then, the university has gone from no computers and even copiers to a more modern place than I have noticed in many corners of Western Europe. Students get many of their course materials electronically. In the only course where I could give exactly the same midterm and final exam at the University of California, Irvine, and Tartu, Tartu students did better. In a recent ranking of political science departments worldwide (by Hix, London) Irvine ranked 7th and Tartu 202nd, but hold it -- in Central East Europe only one university surpassed Tartu, and I shall not name the numerous well-known West European universities that Tartu has overtaken. Most students are fluent in English, and many store employees can handle it. Banking is overwhelmingly electronic, crime is low, most places are at a walking distance, and the local theater just had a great production of "Fiddler on the Roof". In summary, it's a rapidly emerging university in a town that has become as livable as Uppsala, Sweden".
Dr. Karsten Brüggemann
Lecturer of History Dr. Karsten Brüggemann from Hamburg University.
"Actually, I would say that teaching in Narva at the Narva College, University of Tartu is one of the best possibilities to practice your Russian in a Russian environment whilst still living on the European side of the border. As a German I am teaching European History in Russian for almost entirely Russian students who mostly will become teachers in Estonian schools with Russian as the language of instruction. I am really grateful to my students because they are very patient with a foreign teacher teaching in their mother tongue".
Professor Lawrence T. White
Lawrence T. White is a professor of psychology at Beloit College in Wisconsin (USA). In 1997-98, he was a Fulbright scholar in the psychology department at Tartu University. In 2001 and 2002, he brought groups of American students to Tartu to study cross-cultural psychology; he also taught courses for Estonian students on both occasions. In 2003, Professor White taught a short course for the university’s summer school. He is currently collaborating with Estonian and Moroccan researchers on a three-country study of the relationship between time perspective and personality.
"My family and I find ourselves constantly drawn back to Tartu. We love the city itself, with its beautiful buildings and streets, its wonderful cafés and restaurants, and its highly regarded theaters and museums. Personally, I have thoroughly enjoyed working at the university, which is arguably the best university in the Baltic States. The students are intellectually curious and superbly prepared for advanced work. The administration is forward-looking and supportive of international initiatives. The psychology department has always treated me as a special guest and valued my efforts as a teacher. Most satisfying to me is the fact that I have learned so much more about psychology through my conversations and collaborations with friends and colleagues at the university. As an American, my view of psychology—and its place in the world—was somewhat limited. My experiences in Estonia and at Tartu University have definitely made me a better researcher and teacher".