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A 27-year partnership between Niagara University and the Calasanctius Training Program, a private scholarship organization that has enabled selected Hungarians to earn degrees in the U.S., was celebrated on Oct. 2, 2021, with the unveiling of a statue of Hungarian orator and statesman Louis Kossuth on the Niagara University campus. The statue was commissioned with the assistance of the Hungarian government and the Hungarian consulate in New York City.

Dr. Péter Forgách, honorary Hungarian consul of Western New York and founder of the Calasanctius program, spearheaded the installation of the statue as a token of appreciation for the partnership, which has graduated more than 20 Hungarian students with business degrees that they have put to use in their birth country.

Following an invocation by the Rev. Joseph Hubbert, C.M., István Pásztor, consul general of Hungary in N.Y., B. Péter Nagy, consul Hungarian diaspora liaison, Dr. Forgach, and Niagara alumna and Calasanctius program graduate Eliza Hajdu, ’19, offered their remarks. The Rev. James J. Maher, C.M., Niagara University president, was also presented with a national medal from Hungary in gratitude for his continued support of the program during the ceremony.