State Alumni Member of the Month

December 2009

Dr. István Sértő-Radics (Hungary)

Hailing from a remote Hungarian village on what is now the eastern border of the European Union (EU), Dr. István Sértő-Radics has led a career of exceptional public service. An alumnus of both the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship program and the Fulbright Visiting Scholar program, his service has evolved from family doctor, to small town mayor, to EU representative.

Sértő-Radics first came to the United States in 1991 to study public health at Johns Hopkins University through the Humphrey program. One thing Sértő-Radics took away from his experience was the idea of professional independence, which led him to leave the Hungarian hospital where he was working at the time and start his own practice as a family doctor. Later, Sértő-Radics entered the field of public health and then went on to become mayor of the small, ethnically diverse village of Uszka, a ninety percent ethnic Roma village located in one of the most impoverished regions in Hungary, where he saw he could make a positive difference.

As mayor of Uszka, he initially faced death threats from members of the community for his efforts to house a group of displaced Roma who had been evicted by a Hungarian landlord in a neighboring town. Ultimately, however, Sértő-Radics’ programs succeeded in ameliorating poverty and overcoming ethnic tensions in Uszka. In 1998, he received the prestigious European Union - United States Democracy and Civil Society Award for his work with the Roma population in his village.

In 2002, Sértő-Radics returned to the United States as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Mississippi to research ways to resolve racial tensions. Through his scholarship, which included archival research and 110 interviews with mayors, municipal officials, educational administrators, church leaders, business leaders, and health care providers in the Mississippi Delta, Sértő-Radics explored race relations between blacks and whites, which he applied to circumstances between ethnic Roma and ethnic Hungarians in his village of Uszka.

Sértő-Radics concluded that while discrimination persists in the United States, steps to promote integration have paid off. He noted how churches and non-governmental organizations soothed tensions in multi-racial communities and the important role of education and political representation in multi-racial communities. Sértő-Radics took these lessons home with him and continued his work to improve his community through employment and educational programs.

Based on observations of one after-school program in a small town in Mississippi, Sértő-Radics started a similar fifth to eighth grade educational course. “The most inexpensive, effective and sustainable program was the organization of after school activities where I used my American experience," Sértő-Radics said.

Sértő-Radics also volunteered to host American Fulbrighters in Uszka and inspired the alumni community in Hungary to follow his example of community service. Sértő-Radics is credited with creating a real public spirit by helping to integrate the Roma population into the greater community. Through housing, employment, and education programs, he has improved the lives of people in Uszka and the region.

Since Hungary’s accession to the European Union in 2004, Sértő-Radics has been a member and the head of the Hungarian delegation to the EU Committee of Regions (CoR), an assembly made up of regional and local officials from throughout the EU. He was later elected vice president of CoR and president of the Commission for External Relations.

In addition to his career in the EU, Sértő-Radics continues to reside and practice medicine in one of the most underdeveloped parts of his country. He has been instrumental in developing and implementing community service projects through which he serves as an advocate of minority and human rights.

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