THE ADVISER'S PERSONAL PAGE
My name is Ildiko Ficzko and I
have been working in
the American
Higher Education Information Center (AFIK) since the beginning of its
operation.
As a graduate of the Jozsef
Attila University I had been working as a librarian in the University Library for
fourteen years when in May of 1990, with a colleague of mine, I participated in the first international workshop organized for would-be advisers in the East-Central European region.
None of us knew what the job was like we had undertaken. By the end of the first day it turned out that we had a lot to learn - and this process has not finished yet and will never...
I had to acquire both a huge mass of information on 'study in the United States' and had to learn how to orient people towards their decisions: how to give them useful advice.
Being enthusiastic from the new task I devoted a lot of energy to acquire the necessary knowledge, to build out and equip the center, and to elaborate contacts with 'old-hand' colleagues from all over the world to be able to meet the increasing demands.
Thanks to the University infrastructure, the use of e-mail, gophers, WWW and other facilities makes networking very easy - and having access to numerous information sources it is not only me who is supplied with information countinuously but in this way I
can relay all I know to my advisees: and this is my main purpose.
Meantime I myself became a little bit more and more experienced adviser:
I took part and presented in international and in-country workshops,
(Budapest, Prague,
Bucharest, Vilnius, Saint Petersburg), at international educators'
conferences (Montpellier,
Chicago, Athens, Phoenix, Vancouver, Barcelona, Washington D.C.,
Denver, Stockholm, Asheville, San Diego), in 1992 I participated
in a one-month
training program in the United States, I was an invited presenter of a
students' workshop held in Vilnius, Lithuania, I was a member of the
Organizing Committee of the '1995 European Educational Advising
Conference, Athens' and that of the 1998 OSEAS-Europe Conference in
Budapest, and between 1995 and 1998
I was the ECE representative of the six-member OSEAS-Europe Board. Since
1995 I have been working as the webmaster of the OSEAS-Europe home
page and since 1999 as that of the OSEAS-ADSEC Link
Project. Also since 1999 I have been serving as the ECE Liaison to
ADSEC: Admissions Officers Section within NAFSA:
Association of International Educators.
If you want to do something really well you have to give up your
diverging personal plans. Though in 1988 I was awarded the University
Doctor's degree in the field of history (the topic
of my thesis was Portugal,
Portuguese history) it would have been too much to be ingaged in further research as well.
However, beside being the adviser in the Szeged Information Center I
remained a librarian: after graduating (1976) as a teacher of
history /
English language and literature from the University (the topic of my
thesis written for my first degree was the Arthurian legend in two
literary works) and after earning the Doctor's degree (1988), as a
result of post-graduate studies I got my degree
from library and information science, too (1991). At present I am in
charge of the Reference Section of the University Library.
I am married, I have got two nice children: a daughter studying
French and Hungarian at our University, and a son attending
the Medical University in Pecs.
A final note for those who do not want to get my photo (what I strongly suggest): since I know that my first name does not help foreigners to identify my sex, I help you: I am female...:-)
My favourite poems
Portugal
King Arthur and the
Noble Knights of the Round Table
