July 2006: Balsells Fellowship Celebrates tenth anniversary.

The Balsells Fellowship program celebrated the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the 1st Balsells fellow. The event was commemorated with a luncheon hosted by Pete Balsells in Barcelona which was attended by over seventy guests including more than twenty five fellows. Former Catalan president Jordi Pujol and his wife also attended the event. It was held on July 1 and started with a reception followed by a lunch at the conclusion of which several speakers reminisced on different aspects on their experience during these past ten years. Marc Medrano (2001) served as MC and current Director General for Research of the Catalan Government, Xavier Testar, reiterated the support of his office to the program. The first Balsells fellow, Sergi de Miguel (1996), presented a book to Mr. Balsells on behalf of all the fellows. The book, published in Barcelona, contains anecdotes by several of the fellows and a prologue describing the history of the program written by Professor Roger Rangel, Balsells Fellowship director. Rangel spoke at the luncheon and highlighted the contributions to the success of the program of several people, most of whom attended the luncheon. The program will award its 60th fellowship in 2006, exceeding the $2 million mark in total awards. For pictures of the event please see our Flickr page. A report distributed at the luncheon is available here.