UC Extends Wilkommen to German Ambassador

Germany isn’t as far away as you might think – there are more than 90 companies in Greater Cincinnati  and 900 in the state of Ohio that are German-owned or affiliated, not to mention that German Americans are the largest ethnic group in the region, the state and the nation. All these factors add up to some very good reasons for Richard Schade, University of Cincinnati professor of German studies, to invite the German ambassador to the United States to come visit the area.

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger accepted the invitation and will arrive for a one and a half-day visit

Oct. 16-17.

After a luncheon at the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Oct. 16, Ambassador Ischinger will head to UC for a lecture. Ischinger will discuss “Germany and the United States: The Future of Transatlantic Relations" from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Max Kade German Cultural Center, Room 736, Old Chemistry. Admission is free and open to the public.

An invitation-only reception for the ambassador, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, will follow at the UC Faculty Club.

In addition to serving as a professor in the UC McMicken College of Arts and Sciences Department of German Studies, Schade serves as Germany’s Honorary Consul to Cincinnati. While some honorary consul positions remain unfilled by Germany, there continues to be a Cincinnati representative – a liaison that has been in place since 1847, says Schade.

Ischinger has served as the German Ambassador to the United States since July 2001. Born in 1946 near Stuttgart in southern Germany, he joined the German Foreign Service in 1975 with a German law degree and a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He has worked at the UN in New York and has led German delegations to a number of international negotiations, including the Bosnia Peace Talks at Dayton, Ohio, and the NATO-Russia Founding Act, as well as NATO enlargement and the Kosovo crisis.

Information: Richard Schade, 513-556-2756 or Richard.schade@uc.edu