Mit Sturm erobert

Mario Haas (links) überraschte David Newby

Margit Reitbauer, Präsidentin der Anglo-Austrian Society, hatte die Überraschung eingefädelt

Anglistik-Trainer David Newby traf auf Fußballer Mario Haas

Mit seinem Wortwitz und seiner Eloquenz füllt er die Hörsäle am Institut für Anglistik, wenn er wollte wohl auch Fußballstadien. Was lag also näher als beides miteinander zu verbinden. Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. David Newby – ein ausgewiesener Sturm-Anhänger – wurde im Rahmen seines Vortrags der Anglo-Austrian Society for Styria am 24. April 2013 im Meerscheinschlössl mit einem Besuch von Fußball-Profi und Sturm-Kicker Mario Haas überrascht.
Angesicht der Verblüffung, eingefädelt von Anglistik-Kollegin Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margit Reitbauer, verschlug es dem sonst so wortgewandten Anglisten beinahe die Sprache – aber eben nur fast, so dass das Publikum seinen humorvollen Vortrag mit dem Titel „English around the world (and behind the scenes)“ ausgiebig genießen konnte. In 47 Jahren Lehrtätigkeit hatte er das Privileg in 31 Ländern zu arbeiten – und begegnete dabei einer Reihe an Persönlichkeiten, wie Newby stolz aufzählte: „Ein König, ein Scheich, ein Kronprinz, ein Kardinal, ein paar Bildungsministern und jede Menge Rektoren.“

Andreas Schweiger

Related news

A fresh start, a calling, holidays: what draws people from other career paths to teaching

They used to develop software; now they teach maths in the classroom. Career changers are expected to help address the shortage of qualified teachers in Austria’s schools. In their doctoral theses at the Institute for Educational Research and Teacher Training at the University of Graz, Melanie Gürentz and Claudia Mair examined how these new teachers perceive their new professional roles.

Talent Talks bridge the gap in career guidance

The Styrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO Steiermark), the Styrian Chamber of Labour (AK Steiermark) and the AMS are joining forces when it comes to training young people and, through the “Talent Talks”, are creating a seamless pathway to career guidance. This takes preparation and follow-up support – just in time for the start of the term and the scheme’s tenth anniversary – to a whole new level. A new survey conducted by the Talent Centre among 2,687 former participants to mark the anniversary shows just how important this development is. Of the young people who received follow-up support from the Talent Report, 74.6 per cent stated that they had a good understanding of their own strengths and talents following the Talent Check. Without follow-up support, the figure was 66.5 per cent – a significant difference of 8.1 percentage points.

ERC Starting Grants: three million euros for two researchers at the University of Graz

Two researchers from the University of Graz have secured prestigious and generously funded grants from the EU. Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC), each worth 1.5 million euros, have been awarded to the human geographer Heide Bruckner and the social scientist Silvana Weiss.

Austria’s emissions rose in 2025: University of Graz researchers analyse the causes

The Environment Agency Austria has today published the figures for the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2025. While emissions fell sharply year on year from 2022 to 2024, they rose again by just under 0.7 per cent in 2025. Researchers at the University of Graz have analysed how much of this increase was due to structural changes in the economy and how much was attributable to external factors over which there is little control. “In 2025, the colder winter compared with 2024 increased emissions by 0.81 per cent, while the weak economy reduced them by 0.38 per cent. If we factor out these influences, we find an underlying increase of 0.26 per cent compared with the previous year,” reports economist Karl Steininger. “This clearly means that Austria is not on track to meet its climate targets, which require a substantial reduction in emissions by 2030.”