UWM College of Letters and Science
College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 611
April 11, 2002

Russian and East European Studies Committee
Annual Report 2000-2001

  1. The UWM Russian and East European Studies Committee (REES) is composed of faculty whose research and teaching focuses on studying the peoples and states of East Central and Southeastern Europe and the most of what was the Soviet Union.

  2. In 2000-2001 the Committee administered the Certificate Program in Russian and East European Studies and publicized the program to students via its newest brochure. Several students enrolled into the program in 2000-2001.

  3. The Committee sponsored three lectures on the campus with the much appreciated funding assistance of the Area Studies Advisory Committee of the UWM College of Letters and Science and the UWM Center for International Education. These lectures were given by Professor Ewa Thompson (Rice University), Alex Kurczaba (University of Illinois-Chicago) and M.K. Dziewanowski, UWM Professor Emeritus of History. The Committee appreciates the funding it received in 2000-2001 from the College and the Center.

  4. The Polish Studies subcommittee sponsored a series of six public lectures by members of the REES Committee at the Polish Center of Wisconsin in Spring 2001 on the subject of modern Poland. Professor Michael Mikos provided a service course at the Center too, namely an introduction to Polish language that had an excellent enrollment. Professor Mikos continues to direct the UWM summer study program at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland with support of the REES Committee.

  5. The REES Committee sponsored an exhibition at the UWM Library of a major photographic display on the historic significance of the Solidarity movement. The exhibition was here in November/December 2000 with help from the Polish Consulate in Chicago.

  6. The Committee strongly supported the efforts of Professor Philip Shashko to establish a set of scholarly journals dealing with Russia and the East European are at UWM.

  7. Several members of the Committee attended the retirement reception and dinner on April 26 at which a member of the Committee, Professor Roger Phillips, was one of those to be honored.

  8. The Committee strongly supported and appreciated the initiative taken by Professor Victor Greene (History), a member of the Polish Studies Subcommittee, in establishing an ongoing faculty exchanges with Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic. It looks forward to meeting the Czech visiting professor who will be at UWM in the 2001-2002 academic year and in inviting this scholar to; speak on the UWM campus on matters pertaining to the Czech people, their culture and history.

  9. The Committee unreservedly supported the proposal made by Professors Mikos and Charles Ward that one to the new faculty positions to be filled in the coming year be someone who is able to teach the Russian language as well as Linguistics.

  10. The Committee approved an expansion of the area of studies under its purview by including Greece and Turkey under the rubric of Russian and East European studies.

  11. Professor Greene agreed to join the Committee for the 2001-2002 academic year; he is already a member of the Polish Studies Subcommittee of the REES Committee.

  12. Professor Neal Pease was elected chairman of the Committee for the 2001-2002 academic year; he will also serve as chair of the Polish Studies Committee. He succeeds Professor Donald Pienkos, who served as chair during the past two years.

  13. Committee members were active participants as paper givers, chairpersons and discussants in a number of academic conferences around the country and abroad in their disciplines, continued to be engaged in publishing their research in their own areas of interest, and were involved in leadership roles in several academic associations.


Respectfully submitted.

Shale Horowitz (Political Science)
Michael Mikos (Foreign Languages and Linguistics)
Neal Pease (History)
Roger Phillips (Foreign Languages and Linguistics)
Donald Pienkos (Political Science, Committee Chair)
Phillip Shashko (History)
Charles Ward (Foreign Languages and Linguistics)


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