The University of Cafes

A list of campuses

The University which is devoted to promote free academic thinking.

The University invites nominations of new Chairs.

Endorsements must show that the candidate fulfills the following three conditions:
(i) spends at least 15% of his academic life in a Cafe.
(ii) is inspired by the Cafe atmosphere.
(iii) often meets his students in cafes.

For some of the ideology of the institution

see the article "The University of Cafes"

The University Cafe posters

2006 ,2007 and 2010 are available for free upon requestt

Ariel Rubinstein

University of Tel Aviv Cafes

picture: not me

2010: We are happy to announce the appointment of the second University of Cafes Chair:

Professor Andreas Ortmann from School of Economics, Australian School of Business, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney.

Professor Ortmann is known for his devotion to the Univeristy of Cafes. See his imortal contribution "Cafes and coffeehouses in Praha". "Cafes and coffeehouses in Trenti" Currnetly working on "Sydney
opus magnum"!

Here are 5 letters of support we got:

Katarina Kalovcova:
I'd like to nominate Andreas Ortmann for a chair at the University of Cafes. I've
known Andreas for 6 years and he's been my supervisor for 4 years (CERGE, Prague).
Of all academia-related people I know, he's the one most devoted to coffee (and
students). He almost always scheduled the meetings in one of his favorite coffee
places, unless it was absolutely necessary to meet elsewhere. I always hated the
timing of the meetings - early morning and yet, it was not, by far, Andreas' first
coffee of the day. I'm absolutely certain that Andreas meets all three requirements
to become a chair listed on your webpage and I can not think of a better candidate.

Natalia Shestakova (CERGE-EI):
I would like to use this opportunity to nominate Andreas Ortmann for a chair at the
University of Cafes. Much of his academic life is devoted to the work with
students, me being one of them. And most of the meetings happen at his favorite
Cafes. Sometimes it even happens that you come to the Cafe where the meeting is
supposed to take place and have to wait for the previous meeting to be over. This
leaves no doubts in that he spends lot of time in Cafes and also meets his students
there. Regarding inspiration, I just believe that Andreas would not be spending so
much time in Cafes if their atmosphere was not more inspiring that the one in his
CERGE-EI office.

Jakub Steiner (Kellogg, Northwestern):
He spends most of his life, including the academic one in a café. Café is his usual
conversation topic. And, yes, he consults with his students in cafes. I remember
that most of my Prague consultations with Andreas took place in a weird Yugoslavian
mafia hangout, but they served an excellent café.

Vojtech Mravec (Charles University):
I would like to nominate prof. Andreas Ortmann, currently residing in Australia for
this chair position. I happen to know prof. Ortmann from the time he used to work
in Prague at the CERGE-EI school. I believe he would be an excellent fit for the
chair. We often met in cafes, to discuss my thesis, either in the Coffee Heaven in
the Lucerna passage or in a café in the Grossman passage, just next to CERGE-EI. I
also happen to know, that he is a big fan of other coffee places in Prague.

2009: We are happy to announce the appointment of the first University of Cafes Chair:

Professor Andrew Schotter from the University of Brooklyn Cafes.

Andy is honored for being spotted for years thinking and writing papers at the Tea Lounge (Union St. Brooklyn, NY).

His other affiliation is as a Professor of Economics at New York University.