The University of Texas at Tyler's participation in international programs dates to its joining of the University of Texas System in 1979. At the beginning of the 1990s, UT Tyler began to participate in various exchange programs between the university and central European nations. Participating nations were former members of the Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact, and had only recently broken away from the communist bloc and became liberal democracies. This program began with the Polish Municipal Education and Leadership Program in 1990. The PMELP was a program facilitated by the Sister Cities International organization that sought to train and educate municipal leaders from the Polish town of Jelenia Góra. The program began in 1990 and ended in 1995 with multiple delegations from Tyler and Jelenia Gora engaging in an educational exchange program to foster international cooperation and training for municipal governance and leadership. This exchange also included a cultural exchange between Tyler and Jelenia Gora. The program was originally facilitated by Dr. Patricia Gajda, and university President Dr. George Hamm. At the same time, the University began development of more travel study programs between 1990 and 1994, including art and theater travel study courses to the United Kingdom and Italy. These types of courses would continue through the 1990s and into the early 2000s and include whirlwind trips through Great Britain, France, and Italy. The Central European Studies Program was a program of intellectual exchange between the University of Texas at Tyler faculty and various university faculty and students from central European nations such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland to name a few. Lectures concerning central European history and politics were held at UT Tyler by visiting professors and university faculty. UT Tyler faculty along with some City of Tyler administrators participated in a trip to Budapest, Hungary in 1994. The International Summer Program from 1994 to 1996 was a summer program that brought several foreign students from central and eastern European nations to study during the summer sessions at UT Tyler.