Skip to main content
Intellect

Hungarian ambassador plans BYU lecture March 18

His Excellency Bela Szombati, Hungarian ambassador to the United States, will be speaking on Hungarian and U.S. relations at Brigham Young University Thursday, March 18, at 11 a.m. in B-002 Joseph F. Smith Building, hosted by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.

Szombati has served as ambassador since 2009. During his career he has served as head of Strategic Planning of Foreign Affairs, ambassador to the U.K. and France, deputy head of the State Secretariat for European Integration, foreign policy adviser to the Hungarian president and head of the Foreign Relations Department of the President’s Office.

Having previously served in Washington as cultural attaché at the Hungarian Embassy, Szombati has also held posts at the Hungarian Embassy in Vietnam as well as in the Foreign Ministry’s Departments for North America, Asia, Western Europe and International Security.

He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 after receiving degrees from London University and Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest.

For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652.

Writer: Brandon Garrett

szombatib.jpg
Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildflowers not wildfires: How BYU and Provo City are helping to restore Rock Canyon Trailhead

July 10, 2025
At Rock Canyon Trailhead in Provo, Utah, BYU researchers are fighting fires with flowers. By replacing a problematic weed called cheatgrass with wildflowers, students and faculty are working to protect and restore one of Provo’s most popular hiking spots.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=