"A wonderful time taking a break from final exam studying"

Our more loyal readers will remember a contest that SAIS Bologna ran last summer and which generated a stream of memories from alumni.

Natalya (R) and Lisa
 in the winning photo

The contest challenged our former students to show what they missed most about their year in Bologna. A total of 33 alumni submitted content, 7,450 visits were recorded on the "Summer Challenge" page and 566 votes were cast.

Natalya Lyoda of the SAIS Bologna Class of 2011 won first prize for her entry, a photograph of her and classmate Lisa Heinrich "making new friends while learning how to make fresh pasta", as her caption said.

Natalya garnered 266 votes to collect the $600 voucher, good for a feast at an Italian restaurant of her choice.

Last weekend, Natalya cashed in and invited nine friends, including Lisa, to lunch in Washington, DC, where they are studying in their second year at SAIS.

"I chose the place because it is a replica of a restaurant in Florence and ideal for a family-style lunch to recreate the Bologna experience," Natalya said. "We had a wonderful time taking a break from final exam studying."

The contest was a foray by SAIS Bologna into untrod social media terrain. It highlighted the close ties that many of the Center's more than 6,500 alumni feel toward each other and the institution that brought them together in what for many is a life-changing experience.

Nelson Graves

Bits & Bobs

Today we offer some bits and pieces.

SUMMER CHALLENGE
SAIS Bologna is running a month-long contest aimed at alumni. They have been asked to show what they miss most about their year in Bologna. It's a way of sharing memories and drawing the SAIS Bologna community closer together.

If you go to our home page and click on any of the pictures on the right under the heading "Summer Challenge", you will see contributions from alumni. After less than a week, the offerings include photographs, video and an essay from an alumna whose fondest memories will surprise and move you.

Most of our readers are not alumni and so would not want to participate in this contest -- even if the first prize is a dinner worth up to $600. But if you are a prospective applicant or an incoming student, you might like to take a peek at the contributions to see what Bologna has meant to our alumni, from the most recent graduates to those from earlier days.


POLLS
Some of you may have noticed that we recently added some new features to this blog including a search function and a list of the labels or tags that we've used on posts. We'd like to start running occasional polls of readers to promote interactivity and stir ideas.

Our first poll aims to help us focus on what might interest our readers. We are asking you to tell us what kinds of polls you would like to see: polls on international economic issues, graduate study, SAIS Bologna, politics, global security, global social trends or technology.

After one week and with one week remaining, we've received only seven responses. We thank those who have taken the time to register their views; however, seven responses are not enough to give us a clear idea of what readers would prefer.

So please take a minute -- quite literally, a minute -- to vote on this poll so we know what kinds of polls would most interest you.

PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS
We watch our readership statistics with an eagle eye. (If you have a blog, I bet you do the same.) In any case, we've noticed a pickup in the number of readers who are shopping around for graduate schools. We know this because they are reading some of our earliest posts which laid out the basics of SAIS.

If you are considering applying to a graduate school in international relations, you might like to subscribe to this blog. It's an easy (and free) way to stay in touch and learn more about SAIS. We would encourage you to submit your email address in the "Follow by Email" section on the upper right hand of the main page. Up to you whether you'd like to become a Follower.

We encourage readers to send in feedback, either by using the comment boxes at the bottom of posts or by sending an email to admissions@jhubc.it.

In the next few weeks, as our incoming students get their feet on the ground in Bologna, we'll turn our attention to those readers who know relatively little about SAIS. Our goal will be to give readers a sense of who and what we are, how the application process works, what is expected of candidates, how to learn more about us and how best to prepare an application.

We look forward to helping prospective candidates take the right decision as they -- you -- face the future.

Nelson Graves

A summer challenge

When John Harper, professor of American Foreign Policy, spoke to alumni last spring, he sought to sum up why he and other faculty have chosen to "tarry" at SAIS Bologna for many years (or decades, in Prof. Harper's case).

"Those who were associated with the Bologna Center -- from library stack attendants to members of the permanent and visiting faculty -- were all part of an intimate academic community such as one rarely finds today," Prof. Harper told the Alumni Weekend gathering, quoting from a 1977 obituary of the Bologna Center's founder, C. Grove Haines.

The word "community" comes up often when alumni talk about Bologna. SAIS Bologna tends to be an intense year that packs academic challenges, career planning and healthy socializing into a few months.

It may sound ironic, but the diversity of the student body contributes to the sense of togetherness. This coming year we have 202 students enrolled from 44 countries. That means everyone is in a minority of sorts. Even the 87 U.S. citizens are guests in a foreign country. Diversity in a common, intimate setting: it helps bring people together.

Helped by one of our most active alumni, Tom Tesluk (BC81/DC82), SAIS Bologna has decided to tap into that sense of community and at the same time have a bit of fun this summer.

We are asking alumni to show us what they miss most about Bologna -- and to show it to the world.

Starting this Friday, August 19, alumni can upload content capturing their feelings and memories -- text, photos, audio, video -- onto the SAIS Bologna website. The entries will be part of a five-week contest, or mission, with the content that captures the most votes from registered visitors winning a free dinner for six in the Italian restaurant of their choice.

I bring this to the attention of our readers because you may want to check out the content (by going to www.jhubc.it). It will give those of you who are thinking of applying or even those enrolled for 2011-12 an idea of what our 6,700 alumni consider special about the place. I think much of the material will be imaginative and compelling. It should give a unique perspective on the Bologna Center.

Remember: our network of alumni is regularly cited as an advantage for SAIS students looking to plug into opportunities around the world.

Much is made of social media nowadays. This initiative seemed a natural: to harness the power of technology to bring our community even closer together.

Nelson Graves