On the proposal of the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University awarded an honorary doctorate to Magdalena Vášáryová, one of the leading figures in international relations and diplomacy in former Czechoslovakia and contemporary Slovakia. The MU Scientific Board also accepted the proposal of the Faculty of Education to award an honorary doctorate to Michael Keenan, a world-class expert in behavioural analysis. The award ceremony took place in the Karel Engliš Auditorium in the Faculty of Law building.
“I have accepted the proposals to award honorary doctorates to the aforementioned personalities with pleasure. Both Michael Keenan and Magdaléna Vášáryová are key figures of international renown in their respective fields. In both cases, the honorary doctorate is awarded to a person who is closely associated with and co-operates with Masaryk University. I therefore see the honorary doctorates awarded to them not only as an expression of our appreciation for their lifelong work in the field of special education and international relations and diplomacy, but also as a thank you for their significant contribution to these disciplines at Masaryk University,” said Rector Martin Bareš at the ceremony.
Michael Keenan
A leading expert in behavioural analysis, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a distinguished academic in the School of Psychology at Ulster University in Northern Ireland, and a Trustee of the Cambridge Centre for Behavioural Studies, he is also the founder of PEAT (Parents’ Education as Autism Therapists), a charity that supports parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorders. He has received a number of prestigious awards in Northern Ireland and abroad for his tireless efforts to develop the field of behaviour analysis. He has received the Award for Promoting Equality of Opportunity from the British Psychological Society, the Personal Achievement Award from the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis, the Award for Public Service in Behavior Analysis from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and the Michael Hemingway Award from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. He and his wife, Professor Karola Dillenburger, created the first multimedia textbook on behaviour analysis, Behaviour Analysis: A Primer.
“In recent years, Professor Keenan has been a visiting professor at the Faculty of Education, where he has established and developed studies and research in Applied Behaviour Analysis, as well as sponsoring and teaching in continuing education programmes for special educators and other educational staff. At present, thanks to Professor Keenan’s initiative, the Faculty of Education is the only institution in the Czech Republic to have received international certification from the Association for Behaviour Analysis International for the provision of education in applied behaviour analysis and accreditation from the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic for the provision of education for the training of allied health professionals, specifically behaviour analysts,” explained Simona Koryčánková, Dean of the Faculty of Education.
“I must admit that it took me a while to get over the feeling of astonishment that I was nominated for the award, and I sincerely thank Masaryk University for awarding me the degree of doctor honoris causa. Decisions made by experts trained to international standards in behavioural science are key to evidence-based educational programmes for children and young people around the world, whether they have been diagnosed with autism or not. The flip side of a student’s educational needs is the educational needs of teachers and other support professionals. In the future, with additional funding, we can continue to update our educational materials for the benefit of society,” said Professor Keenan.
Magdaléna Vášáryová
Magdaléna Vášáryová has worked tirelessly to promote democracy and free society in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and throughout Central Europe. In late 1960s and early 1970s, she studied sociology at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava. She was expelled from her studies for her role as Martha in the 1969 film Birds, Orphans and Fools directed by Juraj Jakubisko and filmed shortly after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces. Despite the adversity, she managed, with the support of a number of other teachers, to complete and successfully defend her diploma thesis. Like Jakubisko’s film, however, it fell victim to state censorship and Vášáryová was banned from further university studies. From the 1960s to the end of the 1980s she was cast in a number of memorable roles, for example in the films Markéta Lazarová, Prince Bajaja, Rusalka and Postřižiny (Cutting It Short). With her husband Milan Lasica, she was under long-term surveillance by members of StB, the communist-era secret police.
In the spring of 1989, she wrote an open letter to then President Gustáv Husák where she demanded the release of Miroslav Kusý, her former teacher at the Faculty of Arts, and Ján Čarnogurský from prison. She also added her signature to an appeal by Slovak sociologists in July of the same year, calling on Husák to end the persecution of political opponents, the repression of the general public, and to allow a society-wide dialogue and reforms that would contribute to the political, economic and spiritual revival of Czechoslovakia.
During the Velvet Revolution, she took an active part in demonstrations and in the activities of the emerging platform Public Against Violence (Verejnosť proti násiliu). In 1990 she accepted President Václav Havel’s offer to become Czechoslovak ambassador in Vienna. In addition to purging the diplomatic corps of communist agents, she played a crucial role in ending financial support for Palestinian terrorist groups, which had until then been channelled through the Czechoslovak embassy in Vienna. Between 2000 and 2005, she served as Slovakia’s Ambassador to Poland. She subsequently served as State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, from 2006 to 2016, she was a member of the Slovak parliament for the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party. In 1993, she founded the prestigious think-tank Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) and was its director for seven years. In 2007 she founded the VIA CULTURA Foundation.
“Our faculty has been working with Magdalena Vášáryová – or should I say Doctor Vášáryová – for a long time. She lectures in our courses on diplomacy and international relations. When, on the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the founding of Masaryk University, we thought about who we should honour for research, teaching and service to society, the choice was clear. Magdaléna Vášáryová is one of the symbols of our transition to democracy, which is particularly important on the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Her services to Czechoslovakia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are invaluable, and I very much appreciate that she has accepted our proposal and received an honorary doctorate from Masaryk University,” said Stanislav Balík, Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies.
“It is impossible to express all the feelings that surround me here today at Masaryk University. It is not every day that a person is awarded an honorary doctorate. It is an exceptional event because for me, the university is a place that provides an invisible glue. It glues the pieces of human material together and gives them shape and meaning in knowledge. Moreover, the journey towards education and knowledge should not end with the award of a degree, but should be an ongoing endeavour. It can cost us a lot – not only as individuals, but also as a society – if we become lazy. We must realise that our Central Europe is not a place where we can sit back and think that events will pass us by. No, all events will affect us, and we will have to rely on educated people,” warned Magdaléna Vášáryová, who is now finishing her PhD at Charles University in Prague.