Founded | 1947, Incorporated 1950 |
---|---|
Founder |
|
Type |
Non-profit organization (IRS exemption status): 501(c)(3) |
Focus | Education, health care, culture, economics, geopolitics, justice, sustainability |
Location | |
Area served
|
Global |
Key people
|
Stephen Salyer, President and CEO Heather Sturt Haaga, Chair of the Board |
Website | www.salzburgglobal.org/ |
Formerly called
|
The Harvard Student Council's Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization (1947), Salzburg Seminar in American Studies (1948–2007), Salzburg Global Seminar (2007–present) |
Salzburg Global Seminar is a non-profit organization that hosts programs on global topics as diverse as health care, education, culture, economics, geopolitics, LGBT issues, justice, and sustainability. Its objective is to "challenge present and future leaders to solve issues of global concern" through programs held at Schloss Leopoldskron, in Salzburg, Austria, and in other locations throughout the world. It has hosted more than 500 sessions, consisting of more than 30,000 participants from 169 countries, since its establishment in 1947.
In 1946, Clemens Heller, a native Austrian attending graduate school at Harvard University, "envisioned a cultural bridge spanning the Atlantic not only by introducing the demoralized Europeans to all sorts of American cultural achievements, but also by stimulating a fruitful exchange between European national cultures and America."
Richard "Dick" Campbell Jr., an undergraduate student and Scott Elledge, an English instructor also at Harvard, became allies in the realization of this project. Though Harvard was unwilling to support the project, they were able to convince the Harvard Student Council to be the official sponsors of the Seminar. The three founders raised the majority of funds. It was also necessary for the trio to obtain permission from the State Department for entrance into Allied Occupied Austria.
Legend contends that in 1947, Heller bumped into Helene Thimig on a subway train in New York. The widow of theater producer, Max Reinhardt, had been friends with Heller's parents before the war and had a summer home in Salzburg named Schloss Leopoldskron.[1][2]