Interview with Central European University’s first Campus Directors
- Apr 16
- 4 min read
Jazmin Velenczei and Sarah Hinteregger were the two campus directors for the very first cohort of Millennium Fellows at Central European University, Vienna. CEU was also the first university to be selected as a campus hub for the Fellowship in Austria, so Jazmin and Sarah were real trailblazers in that sense, too.
In the interview below, they answered questions about this unique experience:
What made you want to become a campus director, and what did the role actually look like day-to-day?
Sarah Hinteregger: I think that the Millennium Fellowship is, as most things tend to be, all about what you make of it. I wanted to see what I could do and how far I could go with regards to planning my own project, and I wanted to be able to have a hand in supporting others in their projects too. I had been active in my university community before holding the MCN campus director role, and in my work in the Student Union I had always really loved seeing the ideas members of our community bring forward and seeing if there’s some way to actualize those ideas. The MCN campus director role was a targeted, focused way of continuing to do exactly that. We helped the Fellows at CEU make what they wanted to of the Millennium Fellowship by supporting the many diverse ideas for projects they had.
Jazmin Velenczei: As the Millennium Fellowship is structured around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, I wanted to become a Campus Director to have the opportunity to translate important ideas about sustainability, equity, and justice into real community impact. In addition, I was passionate about connecting with like-minded individuals on our campus and around the world through the Millennium Fellowship network.
As a Campus Director, I ran my own project and helped the other Fellows execute theirs. I also gave training sessions with my co-campus director, where we presented and discussed concepts and questions sent to us by the Fellowship.
What's one moment or outcome you're genuinely proud of?
SH: To kick off the project I worked on directly, Fighting Fake News, I held an introductory talk at a high school assembly with a member of my team. Our goal was to hold workshops that would help young voters navigate the complicated media landscape, mired with disinformation, deepfakes, and sheer noise. When we stood on stage and looked around at all of the students we would later host workshops for, we both had a small moment in which we realized both how many people we would actually be able to reach and the responsibility that we held towards them. After the assembly, some of those students approached us with so many questions about political media that we knew we had struck a chord and designed a project that these students really cared about.
You shared the role with a co-director - how did that actually work? Did you divide and conquer, or was it more complicated than that?
SH: A little bit of both. Some tasks are easily divided, others aren’t. I think the most important part of the experience was learning about our different leadership styles and helping each other play to our respective strengths, and it worked out really well.
JV: Sharing the role with a co-director was a valuable experience because it not only helped me divide tasks but it also gave me the opportunity to learn from a partner with meaningful previous experiences. Working with a co-director also deepened my learning, as I was constantly exposed to new perspectives and approaches that expanded how I think about leadership and problem-solving
What would you tell an undergrad who's considering applying?
JV: The Millennium Fellowship is a unique opportunity for students who are deeply passionate about making a social impact. I encourage you to apply if you like working in/with your community and want to have the opportunity to meet like minded students from all around the world.
SH: I would tell them that they should absolutely do it, especially if they’ve been wanting to try their hand at designing a project of their own but maybe didn’t know exactly how to go about it. They get to regularly meet with others in the same position, and they get the support of the campus directors and the MCN community at large. The skills of both self-organization and teamworking that you learn over the course of the fellowship and in realizing whichever ideal you’ve chosen to guide your project.
What are you working on now, and how did the fellowship shape that?
SH: Right now, when I’m not busy working on my thesis, I’m laying the groundwork for my upcoming substack publication. It’s a project I’m starting on my own, and much like the Millennium Fellowship, it’s all about taking something that seems like an abstract ideal (the SDGs) and finding ways to make them tangible and exciting for others to engage with. If you’re interested in philosophical writing that brings some of the ideals encapsulated in notions of democratic societies and international communities down to earth, follow the Humanity Sanctuary for, I hope, wonderful writing coming your way soon.
JV: The Millennium Fellowship gave me a platform to advocate for important social issues whilst also learning more about the Sustainable Development Goals through our training sessions. This shaped my academic career by giving me a meaningful experience in structured collaboration and project-based impact design.
Interview with Jazmin Velenczei and Sarah Hinteregger, Millennium Fellows, Class of 2024
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