Iulian Calinov was born in 1967 in Bucharest Romania. He is a graduate of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest the School of Electrical Engineering (BSc 1992) and of the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest (MBA 1997). He studies at Loughborough University in Leicestershire UK (visiting student 1991-1992). He is a Teaching Assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and in parallel he works as a software development system engineer for various companies in Romania (1992-1998). Later on he works as program manager for Microsoft in Redmond Washington (1998-2018) and then as technical program manager for Facebook (from 2018 to present).
Iulian Calinov holds the position of President then Secretary of the Romanian-American Society in the Washington state (2010-2018). Later on he works for the Alliance Foundation as a Program Director and a board member (from 2016 to present). Mr. Calinov also holds the position of the Honorary Consul of Romania in Seattle Washington (from 2016 to present).
I met Mr. Iulian Calinov on November 16 2018 at the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC during a gala-symposium on issues of politics security management and culture an event sponsored by the ALIANȚA (The Alliance The Friends of the Romanian-American Alliance) Foundation.
During the event I had a brief interview with Mr. Honorary Consul.
1. Dear Mr. Iulian Calinov you are the Honorary Consul of Romania in Seattle Washington. What responsibilities do you have on this line regarding the Romanian community on the Pacific coast?
Thank you for the opportunity of the interview. Officially practically I do not have... I am not a Romanian government employee all my activity is voluntary. Our idea in Seattle is to follow the model used by other ethnic communities in the United States a successful model if we think about say the Irish the Italians let alone other nationalities but they do have an extraordinary success in promoting their own community in making their voices heard both in the United States and in their country of origin. This is not done overnight because unfortunately there is a rather painful history for some of them. And what we are trying to do is to build this long-term idea yes to unite communities together both for the benefit of the community here and for the benefit of Romania. Thats what we want to do.
2. Thank you very much. You are also the Secretary of the Romanian-American Society of Washington state. What achievements does the Society have in the line of promoting Romanian culture in the United States?
Yes so the Romanian-American Society that you mentioned joined a year ago the American-Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) and you have seen the ARCS achievements today. Yes the Romanian language program for the high school students we have forty children who have the Romanian language on their official diplomas issued by the Washington state. This I think is an achievement that we are proud of because it is a long term achievement for the purpose mentioned above. And those children for the rest of their lives will have the Romanian language and will think about it. Yes also very important we have had five consecutive festivals five years in a row we had Romanian film festivals. We are starting to expand more Romanian language programs for younger children and Romanian camps. These are just a few we have many but these are probably the most important ones.
3. Thank you very much. The last question what do you think are the best volunteering and community building practices?
The best practices are related to community motivation. And the community is motivated in principle very easily if you give this opportunity to the communities. And often it is simply related to recognition. Yes so as a Honorary Consul I have never hesitated to give recommendations to the young people who got involved. Parents are very grateful for this. Indeed as to the activities we do with the Romanian language with everyone in the community we have not received any criticism related to these activities and everyone is very willing to volunteer. So practically you come and meet the community and the community will respond in a very comprehensive way to you.
4. Thank you very much Mr. Consul.
With great pleasure.
NOTE - A version of the article was published in MEDIUM.
TIBERIU DIANU has published several books and a host of articles in law politics and post-communist societies. He currently lives and works in Washington DC and can be followed on MEDIUM.
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Iulian Calinov was born in 1967 in Bucharest Romania. He is a graduate of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest the School of Electrical Engineering (BSc 1992) and of the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest (MBA 1997). He studies at Loughborough University in Leicestershire UK (visiting student 1991-1992). He is a Teaching Assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and in parallel he works as a software development system engineer for various companies in Romania (1992-1998). Later on he works as program manager for Microsoft in Redmond Washington (1998-2018) and then as technical program manager for Facebook (from 2018 to present).
Iulian Calinov holds the position of President then Secretary of the Romanian-American Society in the Washington state (2010-2018). Later on he works for the Alliance Foundation as a Program Director and a board member (from 2016 to present). Mr. Calinov also holds the position of the Honorary Consul of Romania in Seattle Washington (from 2016 to present).
I met Mr. Iulian Calinov on November 16 2018 at the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC during a gala-symposium on issues of politics security management and culture an event sponsored by the ALIANȚA (The Alliance The Friends of the Romanian-American Alliance) Foundation.
During the event I had a brief interview with Mr. Honorary Consul.
1. Dear Mr. Iulian Calinov you are the Honorary Consul of Romania in Seattle Washington. What responsibilities do you have on this line regarding the Romanian community on the Pacific coast?
Thank you for the opportunity of the interview. Officially practically I do not have... I am not a Romanian government employee all my activity is voluntary. Our idea in Seattle is to follow the model used by other ethnic communities in the United States a successful model if we think about say the Irish the Italians let alone other nationalities but they do have an extraordinary success in promoting their own community in making their voices heard both in the United States and in their country of origin. This is not done overnight because unfortunately there is a rather painful history for some of them. And what we are trying to do is to build this long-term idea yes to unite communities together both for the benefit of the community here and for the benefit of Romania. Thats what we want to do.
2. Thank you very much. You are also the Secretary of the Romanian-American Society of Washington state. What achievements does the Society have in the line of promoting Romanian culture in the United States?
Yes so the Romanian-American Society that you mentioned joined a year ago the American-Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) and you have seen the ARCS achievements today. Yes the Romanian language program for the high school students we have forty children who have the Romanian language on their official diplomas issued by the Washington state. This I think is an achievement that we are proud of because it is a long term achievement for the purpose mentioned above. And those children for the rest of their lives will have the Romanian language and will think about it. Yes also very important we have had five consecutive festivals five years in a row we had Romanian film festivals. We are starting to expand more Romanian language programs for younger children and Romanian camps. These are just a few we have many but these are probably the most important ones.
3. Thank you very much. The last question what do you think are the best volunteering and community building practices?
The best practices are related to community motivation. And the community is motivated in principle very easily if you give this opportunity to the communities. And often it is simply related to recognition. Yes so as a Honorary Consul I have never hesitated to give recommendations to the young people who got involved. Parents are very grateful for this. Indeed as to the activities we do with the Romanian language with everyone in the community we have not received any criticism related to these activities and everyone is very willing to volunteer. So practically you come and meet the community and the community will respond in a very comprehensive way to you.
4. Thank you very much Mr. Consul.
With great pleasure.
NOTE - A version of the article was published in MEDIUM.
TIBERIU DIANU has published several books and a host of articles in law politics and post-communist societies. He currently lives and works in Washington DC and can be followed on MEDIUM.
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