The Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece (CHS Greece) is a Harvard global office. It operates as an interdisciplinary hub of the University abroad that links the Harvard community to local academic institutions, authorities and other organizations and communities, uniting the humanistic pursuits of its twin institution, CHS in Washington, DC (CHS US), with the homeland of Hellenism.
From its inception, CHS Greece was conceived and established to be accessible and free of charge to the general public. It maintains two equally significant operational priorities. One is to organize, collaborate on, and support activities addressed to the Harvard community. The other is to engage with educational and non-educational communities in Greece and around the world through a multitude of programs and other initiatives.
CHS Greece offers its activities to the community free of charge. The Center’s main mission is to support and promote the study of Hellenic civilization through the use of interdisciplinary and intergenerational approaches. At the same time, it serves as a base of operations for scholars, students, and researchers from Harvard and other academic institutions from the US, Greece, and elsewhere.
In 2003, The Municipality of Nafplio decided to proceed with the renovation of the neoclassical Megaron Iatrou (formerly hosting Nafplio’s Town hall) and to lease this historical building to CHS in order to house the Center’s Greek branch. CHS Greece opened to the public on June 28th, 2008.
Α. DIGITAL LIBRARY
The “Georgios Vernardakis” Digital Library on the Center’s second floor is open to visiting researchers—free of charge—and its constantly enriched collection offers a database with millions of digital items (books, journals, manuscripts, files, maps, microfilms, and musical scores as well as audio and visual material) from all academic fields and disciplines.
The Digital Library welcomes researchers daily (Monday-Friday 10am-5pm via phone reservation) and is perhaps the best expression of the Center’s mission summarized in the phrase “free access to knowledge for everyone.”
Β. ACTIVITIES
CHS Greece organizes, co-organizes and supports a series of programs, which are addressed to the Harvard community but also to the Greek and global educational- and non-educational community, creating links between them.
1. Seminar-based Programs. They are held every year in Nafplio and/or other parts of Greece for several weeks and are addressed to Harvard students and professors, students of Greek, Chinese and other Universities, Greek high school students (mainly from Argolis), etc.
2. Research Opportunities. CHS Greece supports in a number of ways (administratively, organizationally, etc.) research opportunities, which are offered by CHS US. These opportunities focus on the hellenic culture and its mark across space and time, with an emphasis on collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches. Research opportunities are addressed to pre- and post-doc researchers from Greece, Cyprus, and other countries.
3. Internships. Based on synergies with other Harvard units and important Greek museums and organizations, CHS Greece offers annually a number of opportunities to Harvard undergraduate and graduate students to spend several weeks living and working in Greece and gaining experience while collaborating with unique museum collections and projects, Greek high school students, as well as Harvard faculty. In addition, CHS Greece collaborates with the Department of Theatre Studies of the University of the Peloponnese supporting internships offered to students of the Department in Nafplio throughout the academic year.
4. Workshop Series. Every year, the Center offers a series of workshops, which are addressed to people of all ages and all educational backgrounds. The workshops are organized by experts in various fields who take on the role of coordinator and are conducted at the Center’s “Iatrou” building in Nafplio
5. Travel Study Programs. CHS Greece supports and hosts a series of travel study programs, organized in collaboration with the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) and/or other American educational institutions. These programs, which are addressed to life-long learners and students, consist of educational trips that combine traveling and study in Greece
C. EVENTS AND OTHER INITIATIVES
CHS Greece offers a large number of events & other Initiatives, including symposia, conferences, events, etc. These initiatives are addressed to Greek and international audiences and many of them are based on important synergies developed by the Center or based on proposals for collaborations by other institutions
1. Events Series. Events Series is one of the longest-running CHS Greece activities, launched in 2008. The Center invites prominent academics and experts from various fields from Greece and abroad, and addresses the local communities of Argolis and Greece in general, through an annual series of lectures, panel discussions, and presentations that take place on a monthly basis. Each annual cycle of the Events Series engages with a new general topic
2. Digital Library Program (DLP). The program is designed to introduce participants to the digital methods used for the dissemination of knowledge by academic institutions such as Harvard and the CHS. The program is addressed mostly to secondary education students. It can be easily adjusted to the educational level and needs of the attending students, including undergraduates.
3. Conferences & Symposia. CHS Greece organizes and/or supports a number of annual and one-time symposia and conferences Symposium on Sports, Society, & Culture, co-organized by the International Olympic Academy (IOA). Depending on the organization and the thematic area, the activities are open to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Greek Universities and the general public.
4. CHS Greece at Harvard. CHS Greece is a dynamic international center (global office of Harvard University) and has an active presence on the Cambridge, MA campus too.
The Center participates actively in various collaborative efforts and events which take place every year in Cambridge, coordinated by the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs (OVPIA) and other offices of the University promoting Greece and Nafplio and aiming to establish new collaborations and activities in the area.
5. More initiatives. CHS Greece from its early days has been working together with institutions, authorities, and universities in Greece and around the world. CHS’s goal is to enhance different aspects of education and knowledge, forging new partnerships that fit the Center’s profile and operation, and creating the conditions for more initiatives to be organized in Greece. The Center collaborates in various activities with the Municipality of Nafplio, the University of the Peloponnese, the Argolis Association of Philologists, the University of Patras, etc., while each year it hosts a number of other American educational institutions, which now carry out their programs or part of them in Nafplio.
Geographical Coordinates
Philellinon Square and Othonos Street, 21100 Nafplio
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