Graduate Support Office announces the ‘Graduate of the Month’ for May
May 21, 2007
Beginning with March 2007, the Marshall Center Graduate Support Office launched an initiative to select and feature a Marshall Center “Graduate of the Month.” The purpose of this initiative is to feature Marshall Center alumni who are playing an active role in furthering the ideals of the Marshall Center in creating a more stable security environment by advancing democratic institutions and relationships; promoting active, peaceful security cooperation; and enhancing enduring partnerships among the nations of North America, Europe, Eurasia, and beyond.
COL (ret) Andrei Covrig, Marshall Center Graduate of the Month, May 2007
COL (ret) Andrei Covrig Featured as Marshall Center “Graduate of the Month”
Congratulations to Colonel (ret) Andrei Covrig, President of the Humanitarian Law Association and President of the Marshall Center Alumni Association of Moldova, , for being selected as the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Graduate of the Month for May, 2007.
Covrig attended EP 97-2 as a lieutenant colonel and deputy chief of the Moldovan Defense Ministry’s Education Department. Shortly after graduating he was promoted to colonel and promoted to deputy chief of the Main Staff, Moldovan Armed Forces. Covrig entered reserve status in 2001 and became president of the Moldovan Humanitarian Law Association, which has lobbied for recognition of and reconciliation between veterans on both sides of the Transnistria conflict of 1992, in which over 1,000 were killed.
In 2004, Covrig was elected president of the Moldovan Alumni Association, which had been formally registered in 2000. Shortly after meeting Marshall Center Director Dr. John Rose and German Deputy Director Dr. Horst Schmalfeld in May 2004, Covrig galvanized his fellow Moldovan alumni into a team that openly and professionally debated Moldova’s security priorities. Covrig played a significant role organizing the association’s first three annual roundtable events in January 2005, January 2006 and January 2007, as well as editing the Association’s journal.
In recognition of his hard work, Covrig received the "Medal of the Year" award in the Civil Society category in February 2007 from the Romanian Alumni Association for his "special contribution to the development of Moldovan-Romanian relations and bringing European and Euro-Atlantic integration to life". Covrig continues to expand his base for dialogue, having attended the Strategic Communications Alumni Outreach conference in Kyiv, Ukraine in April and the Romanian Alumni Association’s Alumni Conference earlier in May.
