Jan Masaryk Gratias Award

In recognition of its outstanding success in establishing major funded programs at the University of Texas in Austin and Texas A&M University and in promoting Czech culture abroad, the CEFT received the prestigious Jan Masaryk Gratias Award from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000. On June 28 of that year, CEFT Chairman Clinton Machann attended the awards ceremony in Prague, where, on behalf of the CEFT,  he accepted the award from Jan Kavan, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic. The Gratias Agit award was created in 1997 to demonstrate the Czech Republic's appreciation of individuals or groups who promote the nation in the sphere of science, education, the arts or public life. In 2000, individuals from Uruguay, Denmark, Russia, Chile, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, France and the United States received the award, but the CEFT was one of only three organizations to be so honored (the others were from Australia and the Czech Republic).