The Annual Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture and Recognition Award
Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies
November 12, 2022
The Basil P. Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies at Loyola Marymount University was honored to welcome her Excellency, the Ambassador of Greece to the US Alexandra Papadopoulou for the 2022 Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture and Recognition Award.
The Center presented the Ambassador with a Recognition Award for her life-long commitment and contributions to public life and service in Greece and abroad, values essential to the university’s educational mission for engaged global citizenship.
The Center’s Director Dr. Christina Bogdanou and Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts Dean Robbin Crabtree welcomed the honoree to Loyola Marymount University on behalf of the University President Tim Law Snyder and Vice-Provost for Global-Local Affairs Roberta Espinoza.
The Ambassador talked about her early family life as a great contributor to her dedication to public service. Greek family values about the importance of education and the pursuit of personal excellence in one’s chosen field of activity were emphasized by the Ambassador. She talked about the invaluable contribution of women in society both in Greece and globally as well as the importance for equal rights and opportunities. She praised the Greek state for upholding gender equality in Greece at a time that we see erosions in hard-won women’s rights around the globe. The Ambassador also talked about the relationship between the US and Greece as one of mutual respect and close collaboration. She praised the Greek-American diaspora for their close ties to Greece and maintaining Greek identity and core values and ideals for the next generations.
Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou was appointed as Ambassador of Greece to the US in February 2020. Prior to that, she served as Head of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Greek Prime Minister, Permanent Representative of Greece to the EU, Director General for European Affairs in charge of the Greek Presidency of the EU in 2014, Head of the Greek Liaison Office in Skopje, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations. She also served as Head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo. Ambassador Papadopoulou holds a Law Degree from the University of Athens and a Master’s Degree in International Relations & International Law from the University of Pennsylvania where she studies as a Fulbright Scholar.
The award was presented by Dr. Nasreen Babu-Khan, the founder of the Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture and Recognition Award Fund in honor of her grandmother Zoe Caloyera, the matriarch of the Caloyeras family who immigrated with her husband Basil P. Caloyeras in the US in the 1960s.
This annual event brings to the LMU campus outstanding individuals in the fields of art, culture, science, and public life relevant to the ongoing work of the Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies. It is made possible through the generous support and commitment of Drs. Nasreen Babu-Khan and Howard Lehrhoff to Hellenic Studies and the Southern California Greek-American community.
Read more about the event on The National Herald.
1821-2021: Celebrating 200 years of Modern Greece
The Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture and Leadership Award
Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies
June 9, 2021
In celebration of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and 200 years of Modern Greece and the people who have made a mark along the way, the Caloyeras Center was honored to welcome for this year’s Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture and Leadership Award, Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, ambassador-at-large of the Hellenic State and the president of the GREECE 2021 committee charged by the Greek government to organize the bicentennial celebrations.
The Center presented Mrs. Angelopoulos-Daskalaki with a Leadership Award for her life-long commitment and contributions to public life, education, and philanthropy; as well as her tireless promotion of Hellenic values and ideals, in Greece and abroad.
The Center’s Director, Dr. Christina Bogdanou, and BCLA Dean Robbin Crabtree welcomed the honoree to LMU on behalf of the University President, Tim Law Snyder. Her Excellency, the Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the US, Alexandra Papadopoulou congratulated Mrs. Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.
The award was presented by Dr. Nasreen Babu-Khan, the founder of the Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture Fund in honor of her grandmother, Zoe Caloyera.
Ambassador Angelopoulos was elected to the Athens Municipal Council in 1987. In 1989, she was elected to the Greek Parliament and won re-election the following year. Following her marriage to Theodore Angelopoulos, she resigned her seat in the Parliament to focus on family and business.
In 1996, Costas Simitis, the Prime Minister of Greece at the time, appointed her to lead the country’s successful campaign to host the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2000, when slow progress and gridlocked bureaucracy put Athens in danger of losing the Games, she was asked to assume the Presidency of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and save the project.
Her memoir, My Greek Drama, was published by Greenleaf Book Group in May 2013, and became a top ten New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Mrs. Angelopoulos has served as Vice-Chairman of the Dean’s Council of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (HKS) since 1994 and now also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Business and Government.
In 2011, she established the Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Program at the HKS to bring distinguished leaders to Harvard in order to interact with students, share lessons learned and reflect upon the next phase of their public service.
Mrs. Angelopoulos is the founder and sponsor of the Angelopoulos Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) Fellowship Program (100 young Greek entrepreneurs have benefitted), and a leading philanthropist for projects in Greece and around the globe.
The Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture Fund is a signature series that brings to the LMU campus outstanding individuals in the fields of art, culture, science, and public life relevant to the ongoing work of the Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies. It is made possible through the generous support and commitment of Nasreen Babu-Khan and Howard Lehrhoff to Hellenic Studies and the Southern California Greek-American community.
Read more about this event on The Hellenic Journal.
"My Mother's Sin": Inaugural Event for the Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture Fund
Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies
October 19, 2019
On Friday, October 19, 2019, Yiorgios Vizyenos’ “My Mother’s Sin” was performed to a packed room of LMU students and community members. The story was interpreted by Rena Kyprioti, an alumna of the Art Theatre of Karolos Koun, in a solo performance directed by Danae Roussou, who has collaborated with the Athens Concert Hall and the Epidaurus Athens Festival.
The costume, a special polymorphic artistic design that allowed the performance of several characters by Rena Kyprioti, was designed by Vana Giannoula (London College of Fashion), an established member of Disney Studios’ costume department (recent film credits include Justice League (2017), Beauty & the Beast (2016), Tarzan (2016), Cinderella (2015), Testament of Youth (2015) & Jupiter Ascending (2015).
The music was composed by the internationally renowned and award-winning composer Nikos Kypourgos (Conservatoire de Paris), a close collaborator of Manos Hatzidakis.
Eirini Vourlakou (New York Acting Studio) was the assistant director and production manager.
The performance was presented under the auspices of the President of Greece, Prokopios Pavlopoulos and was supported by the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and the Consulate General of Greece in Los Angeles.
The Director of the Caloyeras Center, Dr. Christina Bogdanou thanked the cast and director for their moving performance: “The work of Vizyenos seems simple but is deeply layered and esoteric. It is an extraordinary achievement for a single performer, switching from character to character without pause, to convey such emotion about a mother’s enormous guilt and pain as well as her children’s eventual understanding and forgiveness. The brilliant costume, embodying all characters, the mesmerizing music and use of light, they all made this an almost mystical experience.”
The event was the inaugural event of the Zoe Caloyera Distinguished Lecture Fund. This signature series brings to the LMU campus outstanding individuals in the fields of art, culture, and science, relevant to the ongoing work of the Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies. It is made possible through the generous support and commitment of Nasreen Babu-Khan and Howard Lehrhoff to Hellenic Studies and the Southern California Greek-American community.
Read more about this event on Greek Reporter USA.
View the photo gallery from "My Mother's Sin" here.
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