1

In memoriam Joseph L. Conrad (1933-2003)

Marc L. Greenberg:I knew Joe for a relatively short

time as I came here in 1990. We social-ized somewhat and he was cordial to meas a new faculty member in the SlavicDepartment. We shared some commonexperiences and mutual acquaintancesin the Slavic world. Among our com-monalities was a predilection for thewesternmost South Slavs, especiallythose of Croatia and Slovenia, the lat-ter of which, he professed, were his fa-vorite countries in the world.

In the microcosm of Slavic studies,he had managed to meet my wife, Marta,before I had met her. She was then ateacher at the Ljubljana summer schoolwhere Joe had been a seminar partici-pant. And I knew many of the Fulbrightlecturers from Slovenia who had servedat KU well before I applied for the job Inow hold. Our paths were bound to crosssooner or later and it almost seems tohave been preordained that I ended upworking in the same department withJoe.

In a world of communities boundtogether by common afflictions, Joe andI became fast friends when we discov-ered that we both suffered from a raregenetic disorder. Yes, we suffered fromacute polysemeiosis, a malady thatmanifests itself in the metanalysis ofwords for intended humorous effect,more commonly known as punning. Theillness itself is not communicable, but

Belinda J. Schuman:My name is Belinda, and I am the

eldest of Joseph Lawrence Conrad’schildren. He also has another daughter,Karla, who is here today; a son,Lawrence Allan, who lives in Marylandand had hoped to be here but was notable to do so because of the weatherback east, and a step-son, Seva, Galina’sson, who is also here today.

I would like to share a few memo-ries of our childhood, and then speak ofmore current matters.

Everyone who knows our fatherknows he was a brilliant man. I havenever known anyone who loved to learnfor learning’s sake as much as he did.But the year he received his Fulbrightscholarship, he also became a father, sowe know academics wasn’t the onlything on his mind.

Some of my fondest memories ofhim are sitting on his lap and listeningto stories he would create, using ournames for some of the characters.

Now, the catch to these stories wasthat although we were purely English-speaking children, the stories were en-tirely in German. I can remember thefirst two lines, and please forgive mypronunciation, but they went somethinglike this:

“Es war einmal ein Mädchen. Sie heisstBelinda und sie hat einen Hund.”

Continued page 2 Continued page 5 Continued page 5

LawrLawrLawrLawrLawrencían Chrencían Chrencían Chrencían Chrencían Chronicle 2004onicle 2004onicle 2004onicle 2004onicle 2004The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Edith W. Clowes, Editorwww.ku.edu/~slavic/

Vol. XVINo.1

June 2004

The world of Slavic Studies lost a beloved colleague December 21, 2003, when ProfessorJoseph Conrad died of pancreatic cancer. On January 29, 2004 his family, friends and colleaguesgathered at the Danforth Chapel on the campus of the University of Kansas to remember him.We bring you some of those reminiscences.

A Brief Biography ofJoseph L. Conrad

Charles Gribble(Ohio State University)

Joseph L. Conrad, Professor ofSlavic Languages at the University ofKansas, Lawrence, was born on June 26,1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, andpassed away in Lawrence on December21, 2003, surrounded by his family. Heis survived by his wife, Galina, one son,and two daughters. He worked almostto the very end. In August 2003 he gavea paper at the Congress of Slavists inLjubljana, but health problems aroseduring the trip, and a diagnosis offourth-stage pancreatic cancer wasmade after his return home.

Joseph did his undergraduate workat the University of Kansas, and upongraduation received a Fulbright awardfor study at the Johann WolfgangGoethe-Universitaet in Frankfurt duringthe 1955-56 academic year. After theyear in Germany he entered graduateschool at the University of Texas, wherehe studied Slavic and Indo-Europeanlinguistics with Winfred Lehmann,among others. His dissertation was onNikolai Marr, whose linguistic theoriesand the battle to make them dogma hada strong negative impact on the work,careers, and even lives of many Sovietscholars. He received the Ph.D. in 1961.

2

Marc Greenberg Continued from page 1

it sets off a number of related disordersthrough contact, namely, chronic incon-sonance and the dreaded irritable vowelsyndrome. Joe made me feel welcomein the Department through his fine senseof humor.

Although Joe’s training was in thefield of Indo-European linguistics, he al-ready had a strong interest in Russianeven as a student. He wrote his disser-tation on the eccentric archaeologist andlinguist, Nikolaj Marr. He completed hisdissertation in 1961.

When he joined the profession Joewas a pioneer in the field of Slavic stud-ies, among those who rode the wave ofinterest in the Soviet Union and the So-viet Bloc set off by Sputnik in the 1960s,a time when there were few specialistsin Russian and other Slavic languages.

His interests evolved, moving fromlinguistics to literature and folklore,though always synthesizing his exper-tise in these fields. He became a lead-ing scholar in the fields of Chekhovstudies and Slavic folklore.

As I knew him only late in his ca-reer, allow me to read a few lines froma senior colleague who knew Joe fromearlier days.

Leonard A. Polakiewicz (HoraceMorse Distinguished Associate Profes-sor of Slavic Languages and Literatures,University of Minnesota), a fellowChekhov scholar, called me immedi-ately upon learning of Joe’s passing:

“I learned of Professor Conrad’spassing away with great sadness. I feelprivileged to have known him for morethan thirty years as a Chekhov scholar,

a conference participant (I especiallyrecall the 1985 Badenweiler confer-ence), and as a friend. Joe was a veryhighly respected scholar and I, for one,was personally influenced by his ap-proach to the study of Chekhov. In as-sessing another scholar’s work, Joe al-ways offered constructive criticism andwas always fair. He was indeed one ofthe most decent individuals I have evermet. Foreign specialists on Chekhov, in-cluding Professors Vladimir BorisovichKataev and Aleksandr PavlovichChudakov of Moscow University, joinme in expressing our sincere condo-lences to Professor Conrad’s family andto his colleagues and students in theDepartment of Slavic Languages andLiteratures at the University of Kansas.”

During his last few years, Joe hada burst of creative energy, returning tohis Chekhov interests with renewed en-thusiasm. He presented papers in Ger-many in Badenweiler and Tübingen and,as was mentioned, at the Congress ofSlavists in Slovenia. These papers allresulted in new article publications.

Joe was recognized by the Depart-ment in April of 2003 with a slightlyearly 70th birthday party at the annualHonors Reception. Although he did notspeak on that day, he seemed exception-ally happy as the photographic recordof the event reflects.

In his last trip to Slovenia Joe madecontact again with many of our mutualfriends and he had a chance once againto see a part of the world he enjoyed somuch and share it for the first time withhis wife, Galina. It was fitting that hemade this trip after so many years ofabsence.

When Joe came back to the Stateshe had to come to terms with tragic newsabout his health. We spent a good dealof time together in his last couple ofmonths. We talked about many things,much of it having to do with his profes-sional life and contributions to theSlavic field. He was proud of his con-tributions and wanted to continue to givemore. In his last days he expressed guiltthat he could not be in the classroom. Itried to assure him that others wouldcontinue his legacy and that his workwould continue to be read by studentsand colleagues.

When we ran out of personal andprofessional topics, I read to Joe fromthe Diaries of Marcus Aurelius, a bookthat distills the wisdom of the Stoics.He was particularly interested in thepassages on death and dying. He toldme that these words helped make senseof what he found incomprehensible.Aurelius writes that: “The act of dyingis one of the acts of life.” Aurelius’words about death help us to live wellby reminding us of the fate we all share.Let me close by reading two quotationsthat Joe found particularly poignant:

“Death is a release from the impres-sions of the senses, and from desires thatmake us their puppets, and from thevagaries of the mind, and from the hardservice of the flesh.”

“Accept the things to which fatebinds you, and love the people withwhom fate brings you together, but doso with all your heart.”

In this issue:

In Memoriam .............. 1

Honors Reception .... 3-5

Friends of Slavic ......... 6

East Central Europe,the EU, and the KUCurriculum ........................ 7

Alumni News ..................... 7

Student News ..................... 8

Graduate Student News ... 8

Faculty News ..................... 9

Upcoming Events ............ 12

3

SLAVIC HONORS RECEPTIONWednesday, April 21, 2004

Recognition for excellence in the study of Polish

Jessica Winchell, Molly Mackinnon, Terry Anderson, Jeff Muller,Mr. Michael Johnson, Shannon Doyle, Professor Andrzej Karcz

Recognition for excellence in the study of Croatian and Serbian

Ms. Marta Pirnat-Greenberg, Sidney Dement, Brooke Waldron,Professor Stephen Dickey

Recognition for excellence in the study of first-year Russian

Alexander Melin, Conor Klamann, Jennifer Hensley, Robert Blaney, Eric Peterson,with Ms. Erin Moulton, Mr. Matthew McGarry, Professor William Comer

4

Recognition for excellence in third-year Russian

Gabe Murphy, James Sneed, Mark Willcoxon

Recognition for excellence in the study of Ukrainian

Sarah Jewell, Lyle McMillan, Dr. Yaroslava Tsiovkh

Recognition for excellence in the study of second-year Russian: Russian

Ms. Eugenia Amditis, Bekah Heacock, Annie Ingham, Jessica Plummer, Nathan Mack,Ms. Yana Grigortchouk, Professor William Comer

Recognition for excellence in fourth-year Russian stylistics

Joy Stortvedt

5

Belinda J. Schuman Continued from page 1

For those of you who don’t under-stand German spoken by a one-languageKansan, the beginning of that story was:“There was once a maiden. Her namewas Belinda, and she had a dog.” So,see, those of you who know Daddy’skids and our love of dogs now have abetter hint of where that started!

Most of you know our father as afolklore expert and linguist, which ofcourse he was. But to his children, healso had another side. That side in-volved teaching us how to ride bicycles,going over vocabulary lists, plantinggardens, and learning to tell time, toname a few. Karla reminded me of thetime, no pun intended, that she washome sick from school one day and hetaught her how to tell real time, not timewith a digital clock like today’s kidslearn. She was rewarded for her quickstudy with her very first watch. Andknowing her, she probably still has thatwatch somewhere!

Daddy also taught all three of uskids how to drive a car, I believe it wasan automatic station wagon. And thenhe went out and bought a MG sports carconvertible – funny, but that car wasNOT an automatic!

We learned a lot about parentingfrom our father. Our brother, Allan, hastwo children, and he says that when hehas a question about how to raise hischildren, he thinks of Daddy and whatDaddy would do. By the way, one ofAllan and Pam’s children was adoptedfrom Russia – of all the countries in theworld, what can you imagine was theinfluence that led Allan there?

Most of you here knew Daddypretty well. Or at least you thought youdid. Did you know that he almost didn’tbecome a professor—that initially hehad been torn between academia andbeing a Forest Ranger? He always lovedto walk around lakes and through thewoods, and sit and ponder the world. Afavorite memory is taking walks withhim and how he would point out thingsthat we, as children, had not taken thetime to notice.

I would like to talk about the greatlove in Daddy’s life. Yes, folklore waspretty high on that list, but aside from

Outstanding service to the Department of Slavic Languagesand Literatures

Sidney Dement for his work cataloguing Professor Conrad’s library.

Nelson Scholar for 2004-2005

James Sneed

James Sneed, Lyle McMillan, Lindsey Collier, Joy Stortvedt,Professor Edith Clowes

Dobro Slovo, Russian Honorary Society

6

Joseph was an Assistant Instructorat the University of Texas from 1956-59, and then an Instructor and AssistantProfessor at Florida State Universityfrom 1959-62. The University of Texasrecognized his abilities and invited himback as an Assistant Professor in 1962.He remained at Austin until 1966, whenKansas, his alma mater, called him asAssociate Professor and Chair to builda strong Department of Slavic Lan-guages and Literatures. His success atthis task was recognized in many ways,including promotion to the rank of Pro-fessor in 1971.

During the 1960s his research in-terests turned from linguistics to litera-ture. His first article, an outgrowth ofhis dissertation, is on Marr’s theories,but the remainder of his more than fortyarticles are on literature or folklore (ex-cept for three on language teaching andprograms). Chekhov was the subject ofnineteen of his articles, starting with histhird article and continuing through hispaper at the August 2003 LjubljanaCongress. Like most scholars of his gen-eration, Joseph was originally primarilya Russianist, but a trip to Yugoslavia inthe summer of 1970, followed by threesummers (1971, 1972, 1975) as Resi-dent Director of a cooperative summerSerbo-Croatian language program inZagreb kindled a lasting passion for Yu-

his children, his other best love was—is—Galina. For those of you who havebeen to our father’s house Before Galinaand Since Galina, you know what abeautiful difference she made in his life,both in his physical environment, andin his mental well-being.

First, Galina took that house thathe had lived in for over twenty yearsand made it into the Museum it is to-day. Daddy was so proud of what shehad done. The inside is immaculate, andfilled with classic items such as ancientbooks, religious icons, rugs, folkloresymbols, and plants, plants, plants! Ithink that at one point, she had 40 hand-raised African violets. And, mind you,that’s just one species of plant in herhouse.

The outside of the house haschanged from a Chemlawn cesspool toa Better Homes and Garden-type yard.Galina herself, all 100 pounds of her,moved dump truck loads (and I do meanplural—loads!) of dirt from the drive-way to where-ever it was needed in theyard. The yard is now filled with manydifferent kinds of flowers, evergreentrees, and fruit trees—and even vineswith flowers and fruits. Did you knowshe even has Kiwis growing in her yard?She is a genius.

Second, she is also a genius in thelove and care she gave Daddy. I havebeen around Daddy for 48 years, andGalina is the best thing that has everhappened to him. She knew him betterthan anyone else in his life. Under herguidance he blossomed and in return,he took her on trips to show her theplaces and lands he loved to visit. Theyeven talked of retiring and buying acabin in the Alps. (Of course, since hewas 70 and still not retired by choice,I’m not sure when that Alps-retirementwas supposed to be!)

She also provided Daddy withSeva. Seva has been an enormous helpto both Daddy and Galina, especially inthat he gave up his “freedom” to moveback into their house when Daddy re-ceived the cancer diagnosis. This act hada tremendous impact on the three ofthem because now Galina and Daddyhad a strong individual who often putaside his own work to help as Daddyneeded more and more assistance. I

never really appreciated just how muchSeva was needed until I started stayingat the house more often in Novemberand December. Thank you, Seva, formaking the sacrifice to help Daddy asmuch as you did.

In closing, I want to thank Galinafor her love and care of our father. Iknow that for the past eight years sinceshe’s been in his life, he was the happi-est and the most loved he’s ever been.Karla and Allan and I are very lucky andproud to be included in her family. Sevahad the good luck to be born into it!

As you may know, in Slavic folk-lore it is believed that the soul stays onthe earth for 40 days. Today is that for-tieth day, and we want to thank you forhelping celebrate Daddy’s freedom onthis very important day.

goslavia and folklore. His first articleon a folklore topic appeared in 1980,and it was followed by fourteen morein the ensuing twenty years, with incan-tations and charms the most frequenttopic. Folklore was the subject of hismost popular course at Kansas, and theclasses filled up to the last seat. Hishouse became an extension of the class-room, with many folkloric objects anddisplays.

Several of Joseph’s students nowoccupy senior positions at Americanuniversities, and the Slavic program atKansas remains one of the most impor-tant. He received numerous grants andawards, including six IREX awards andFulbright awards to Croatia andSlovenia. He served ten years as Chairof the Department at Kansas and raneight summer programs in the USA,Russia, and Yugoslavia. He was fre-quently invited as an outside evaluatorof programs or applications for grantsand candidates for promotion and/ortenure.

He was also a good friend and goodcompany to spend time with. We shallmiss him greatly.

Charles Gribble Continued from page 1

Donors to the Slavic Department havesteadily increased over the last fouryears and thanks go to our generouspatrons. This year, the following donorscontributed to support Slavic Depart-ment student and academic activities:

Larry A. Brey/3M Foundation, Inc.*;Belinda J. Schuman (née Conrad)*♥;Edith W. Clowes and Craig Huneke*;Marc L. and Marta P. Greenberg*♥;Howard A. and Suzanne Greenberg*;Mary Hermanson Greff*♥; KurtHarper*; Stephen J. and Marie-LuceParker*; Leonard Polakiewicz*♥; KurtShaw*; Laura and ChristopherWilhelm♥; Richard L. Windholz;Willcoxon Family Foundation*

* = donations over $100♥ = donation to the Joseph L. ConradMemorial Fund

FRIENDS OF SLAVIC

7

One of the outcomes of the forumwas the organization of a university-wide symposium April 26-27 on “Eu-rope at the Crossroads: What EU En-largement Means to You.” Spearheadedby Dr. Michael Mosser of the Office ofInternational Programs, this eventbrought audiences to the Edwards Cam-pus in Overland Park on April 26 to hearabout the impact of the EU enlargementon Kansas businesses and then on April27 to the Lawrence campus for a fullday of roundtables, discussion groups,speeches, and readings. Presenters fromthe Slavic Department were ProfessorsClowes, Karcz, and visiting Fulbrightscholar, Professor Nada Šabec. The key-note speaker was Peter Horvath of theEconomic Section of the Hungarian Em-bassy, who examined the developmentof the Hungarian economy over the last15 years. One roundtable considered theaccession of the 10 new member coun-tries from the perspective of variousdisciplines, including economics, politi-cal science, history, and cultural stud-ies. Another focused on the changingcharacter of “citizenship” in the Euro-pean Union. Finally, presenters fromHungary, Poland, and Slovenia spokeabout the enlargement from their par-ticular national point of view.

To continue to develop awarenesson campus of the contributions of EastCentral European countries, the studentunion SUA is planning a Slavic and EastEuropean film series for Fall, 2004.Other activities include the developmentof new courses in the Slavic Depart-ment, such as Professor Karcz’s “FilmAdaptations of Polish and Czech Litera-ture” and the annual Winter Institute onTheater and the Arts in Prague.

Prague’s Malá Strana

The year 2004 started with a num-ber of events at KU aimed at rethinkingthe way that we approach and teach thehistory, politics, economics, and cultureof East Central Europe. The cultural, so-cial, and political role of the region’smajor countries—Poland, Czech Re-public, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hun-gary—will change with their accessionto the European Union. In American for-eign policy they will no longer beviewed as part of the “evil empire” oran adversary camp.

In modern history these countrieshave required special attention andstudy because their experience often dif-fers from Western European models andbecause their languages present particu-lar difficulties for predominantly En-glish and Romance-language speakersto the west. Moreover, with the seriousdiminution of translation and publica-tion activity in the United States theirmajor cultural contributions to worldliterature and theater could fade fromthe “radar screens” of educated Ameri-can readers.

On February 2, Professor EdithClowes convened a “Forum on East-Central Europe in the European Com-munity: Shaping the New Curriculum.”The goal of this forum was to bring ev-eryone interested in East Central Eu-rope—from European Studies, JewishStudies, Russian and East EuropeanStudies, Slavic Languages and Litera-tures—to define the range of concernswith the region that the academic com-munity at KU have and particularly tofocus on the ways in which our commu-nity needs to shape and coordinate thecurriculum. A rich and productive dis-cussion ensued among the standing-room-only group, during which the vari-ous interdisciplinary groups delineatedareas for future cooperation in curricu-lum development and hiring needs.

The Accession of EastCentral EuropeanCountries to the EU andthe Changing KUCurriculum

ALUMNI NEWS

Adrian Erlinger (B.A. 2002) is cur-rently finishing his M.A. at KU REES.He won the 2004 Roy and Betty LairdEssay Contest with an essay on “ShockArt and Orthodox Thugs: Politics andContemporary Art in Russia.” He re-ports that he is an alternate for aFulbright Scholarship. Whether or nothe receives the award, he plans to go toL’viv, Ukraine, to study local politicsand the media.

Jon Giullian (M.A. 1997) reports thathe is nearly finished with his MastersDegree in Library Science at IndianaUniversity. He has an internship to fin-ish up and is working at the referencedesk, which he is enjoying.

Two new publications by Mark R.Lauersdorf (Ph.D. 1995) have ap-peared: “Protestant Language Use in17th Century Slovakia in a DiglossiaFramework” in Život slova v dejinácha jazykových vzt’ahoch. Nasedemdesiatiny profesora Jána Dorul’u(Bratislava 2003); and “Slovak Stan-dard Language Development in the15th–18th Centuries: A Diglossia Ap-proach” in Laura Janda et al., eds.,Where One’s Tongue Rules Well: AFestschrift for Charles E. Townsend(Indiana Slavic Studies 13,Bloomington 2002). Dr. Lauersdorfteaches in the Modern Languages De-partment at Luther College, Decorah,Iowa.

Captain Breven Parsons sends usthese pictures from Georgia, where heis currently posted with the UN Mission.Breven writes:

“This first picture has an interestingstory behind it - the guy on the right wasalso a KU Grad, was on the KU judoteam with me and studied Russian atKU! Small world! I replaced him in themission last June - his name is RobTidball. We did not put two and two to-gether until after almost a whole day oftalking.

8

The second picture is a destroyed teafactory near Gali in de facto Abkhazia.It used to be one of the jewels of Sovietproduction, but has been useless sincethe war in 1992-1994.

The third is a photo of the locals in theceasefire zone crossing the Inguri riveron a tractor. It’s pretty dangerous busi-ness as there are numerous criminals,“partisans,” and other folks who will tryto rob them as they cross back and forthto work the lands they formerly livedon. They can’t stay on their former landsin de facto Abkhazia because there’s nosecurity. Nevertheless, they brave theriver, which also was mined during theway in order to get to their lands andwork them. They generally cross in themorning and cross back before dark.”

Lyle McMillan has received a FLASand is planning to spend the 2004-2005academic year in Kiev, Ukraine. The fol-lowing year he plans to finish his MA atKU REES.

Congratulations to Abby Mills who re-ceived a Boren Scholarship to study inSt. Petersburg and Gorno-Altaisk dur-ing the 2004-2005 academic year!

Congratulations to the recipients of2004-2005 Foreign Language and AreaStudies Scholarships: Sidney Dement,Kelly Knickmeier, Molly Mackinnon,Matthew McGarry, Erin Moulton!

In 2003 Eugenia Amditis went to Cen-tral Slavic, AATSEEL, and AAASS. Shewas first alternate for a KU Disserta-tion Fellowship. She is the instructor,teaching 2nd year Russian and SlavicFolklore. She received a FLAS to at-tend the Summer Russian program inPetersburg. Last summer she attendedthe University of Illinois Summer Re-search Institute last summer, and is plan-ning to attend this summer. She has justlearned that she is first alternate for theKU Dissertation Fellowship for 2004-2005. She was accepted for thissummer’s Summer Research Lab at theUniversity of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and will be presenting a paperat the first conference of the Assoc ofWomen in Slavic Studies. For 2004-2005 she received the Eddie JacobsenMemorial Scholarship from the HarryTruman Good Neighbor Foundation forInternational Studies.

Shannon Doyle reports that she is stillhappily dancing with The Prairie WindDancers at the Lawrence Arts Center.In June she will moving back to Mary-

Gary Roy (MA 1986, Ph.D. 1996)writes that from 1996 to 2003 he taughtforeign languages at Thornton Academyin Saco, Maine (Russian, French, Span-ish, German, Latin, and Chinese—hisschedule changed radically from year toyear depending on the needs of the de-partment). While at Thornton, amongother things, he established an exchangeprogram with a Gymnasium in Luebeck,Germany. He is now on a two-yearleave-of-absence from Thornton and iscompleting an MA in French and Ger-man at the University of Northern Iowain Cedar Falls. In connection with thisdegree he spent three summers study-ing in Klagenfurt, Austria, and two sum-mers studying in Angers, France. Withinthe next few months he plans to leaveon a year-long trip to South America.He conveys his greetings to his Slavicprofessors.

Allison Smith (B.A., 2002) writes thatshe is currently finishing an internshipwith Easter Seals Timber Pointe Out-door Center where she has been devel-oping a nature center. She will graduatewith an M.S. in Recreation, Parks andTourism Administration in May, 2004.She has expecting a baby boy at the endof April and getting very excited. Sheplans to settle down in Kansas at leastfor a little while.

Sabra Volek (B.A., 2003) has just wonthe Phi Beta Delta Domestic StudentAward for 2004! This award is given bythe international honor society to onedomestic student member who has dem-onstrated great interest and involvementin international activities and superiorscholastic achievement. Sabra is cur-rently in Hungary where she is finish-ing her master’s thesis, “NATO and the‘War on Terror ’: Adaptation orWithering?”

Jeffrey A. Wormington (BA, 2003)received an NSEP fellowship under theNational Foreign Language Initiative.The program is by invitation from theFederal Government and takes a smallnumber of advanced students to Russiafor a year of intensive language train-ing, internships and translation work.

STUDENT NEWS

GRADUATE STUDENTNEWS

9

International Center for Scholars, inWashington, D.C. September 30-Octo-ber 1, 2003, where she chaired a panelon “Cultural Communication and Tol-erance.” Prof. Carlson participated inthe AAASS conference in Toronto inNovember as a panel chair and as aMember of the Board of AAASS, rep-resenting the Council of InstitutionalMembers. In Fall 2003, Prof. Carlsongave regional lectures on Orthodoxy andRussian iconography at Central Mis-souri State University and the WichitaMuseum of Art. This spring she is lead-ing a grant development workshop forjunior faculty at the Hall Center for theHumanities, while working with col-leagues in the KU Art History Depart-ment to develop expertise in pedagogi-cal strategies for art history (for whichshe received a Keeler Intra-UniversityProfessorship).

For Professor Edith Clowes 2003-2004 was a year full of publishing andtraveling. April, 2004, saw the appear-ance of her “alternative history” of Rus-sian philosophy, Fiction’s Overcoat:Russian Literary Culture and the Ques-tion of Philosophy (Cornell UniversityPress). Other highlights were the publi-cation of “Vasilij Rozanov alsphilosophischer Nachkömmling vonSolov’ev und Nietzsche” in VladimirSolov’ev und Friedrich Nietzsche: Einedeutsch-russische kulturelle Jahrhun-dertbilanz, ed. U. Heftrich and G.Ressel, and “James and Vocabularies ofPost-Soviet Russian Spirituality,” Will-iam James in Russian Culture, ed. J. D.Grossman and R. Rischin. Her travelstook her near and far. In June, 2003, sheattended a conference devoted to VasiliiRozanov at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign where she spoke on“Rozanov’s Antidote: Siniavskii-Terts,Erofeev, and Ruptured Soviet Identi-ties.” At the World Congress of Slavistsin Ljubljana in August she gave a talkon Berdiaev and philosophical autobi-ography. In October she presented apaper on the debate about Babii Iar inthe literature of the Thaw at a confer-ence on “Memory of the Nazi Final So-lution in East European Literature andArt” at the University of Heidelberg. InNovember at the AAASS meetings in

Toronto she presented on Pasternak’saesthetic. During winter, 2004, she hasstayed closer to home, focusing on or-ganizing events on campus, the HallCenter faculty seminar on “Philosophyand Literature,” as well as the forum andsymposium on East Central Europe (seep. 7). This spring Professor Clowes wasrecognized by Phi Beta Delta, the hon-orary organization for international edu-cation, for excellence in promoting in-ternational education.

The year 2003 had three highlights forProfessor William Comer. He sawthrough to degree his first doctoral stu-dent in language pedagogy in the SlavicDepartment. Meghan Murphy-Leedefended her dissertation in April 2003on a linguistic description of learners’interlanguage using evidence fromemail dialog journals. The Russian Con-text, a collection to which he contrib-uted the opening chapter, was recog-nized by the American Association ofTeachers of Slavic and East EuropeanLanguages as the best book in pedagogyin 2003. Third, in December, 2003 heassumed the position of Chair of theProgram Committee for the annual con-vention of the American Association ofTeachers of Slavic and East EuropeanLanguages (approximately 400-500 par-ticipants). This position has a three-yearterm, and represents a great deal of or-ganizational work at the national level.Among his teaching responsibilities,Professor Comer initiated a significantreworking of the second-year Russiancurriculum, moving it to a more theme–based, cultural literacy focused course.

Coming to us from the University ofVirginia, Professor Stephen Dickeyhas just completed his first year as anassistant professor in linguistics and

land where she will begin working full-time for the Dept. of Defense. She saysthat it will be difficult to leaveLawrence, but is looking forward tostarting a new job and living muchcloser to her family.

Molly Mackinnon studied Polish on aFLAS fellowship during the 2003-2004academic year. She received a summerFLAS to study in Krakow during sum-mer 2004. Molly and her family will usea second-year FLAS to return in winter2005 to spend spring semester inKrakow. On a lighter note, Molly re-ceived honorable mention in the SnyderBook Collecting Contest at Watson Li-brary. Her project was “Polish Litera-ture in Translation.”

Professor Maria Carlson completedher service as director of the Center forRussian and East European Studies on15 August 2003, after almost 11 yearsin that position, after securing threeyears of funding for the Center’s US/ED Title VI grant and FLAS Fellow-ships. She is delighted to be back in theSlavic Department full time, where shehas assumed oversight of the under-graduate folklore course, ably taught in2003-2004 by Instructor EugeniaAmditis and Teaching AssistantAdrienne Harris Boggess. Prof.Carlson is currently developing a newgraduate level “Survey of Slavic Folk-lore,” to be taught for the first time inFall, 2004. Professor Carlson’s article,“Old Battles, New Challenges,” waspublished in Newsnet; News of theAmerican Association for the Advance-ment of Slavic Studies, in a professionaldiscussion of “Regional Studies in theTwenty-First Century” (October, 2003).She was also invited to participate in aspecial conference on The Integrationof Russia into the International Aca-demic Community: Perspectives fromRussian Education and Scholarship atthe Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson

FACULTY NEWSLake Bohinj, Slovenia

10

note on historical phonology forKronika Slavistinega društva Slovenije(Maribor, Slovenia). In April, 2004, hewas invited to present the paper, “Com-mon Slavic: Progress or Crisis in its Re-construction? Notes on Recent Archaeo-logical Challenges to Historical Linguis-tics,” at the UCLA Memorial Confer-ence for Henrik Birnbaum. The paperwill appear in the International Jour-nal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics in2004. He was also invited to give a talkon “Balto-Slavic Tonogenesis” at the“Tone and Intonation in Europe Work-shop” in Lisbon, Portugal, April 2004.In the fall semester Prof. Greenbergplayed renaissance lute with the KUCollegium Musicum performing onKANU and in Bales Recital Hall; in thespring he was featured soloist in a setof pieces by lutenist John Dowland.

During 2003-2004 Prof. AndrzejKarcz contributed a journal article“’Znosic wygnanie w tym pieknym,…ale jakze obcym kraju.’ Lataamerykanskie Manfreda Kridla” toArchiwum Emigracji. Studia-Szkice-Dokumenty, a journal published by theNicolaus Copernicus University Pressin Torun, Poland. Along with two othercolleagues he has been continuing edi-torial work on the book Polonistyka poamerykansku. Badania nad literaturapolska w Ameryce Polnocnej (1990-2005). This anthology of North Ameri-can scholarship on Polish literature isto be published in 2005 or 2006 by theInstitute of Literary Studies of the Pol-ish Academy of Arts and Sciences inWarsaw, Poland. In November, 2003,Prof. Karcz’s talk, “Émigré Writers Re-turn Home: Dziennik powrotu bySlawomir Mrozek,” was presented at the2003 AAASS National Convention inToronto, Canada. At the 2003 AnnualConference of the American Associationof Teachers of Slavic and East EuropeanLanguages in San Diego he organizedand chaired a roundtable, “Models ofInstruction in Teaching Polish” andchaired a panel on “Polish Literatureand Culture.” As in previous years, hekept busy by organizing lectures, filmpresentations, and social gatherings forthe KU Polish Club. This officially reg-

istered student organization has manymembers and sympathizers both on andoff campus. The KU Polish Website(www.ku.edu/~polish), run by Prof.Karcz, lists, among other things, all therecent and upcoming events of the Club.

Ms. Marta Pirnat-Greenberg, lecturerin Croatian-Serbian and Slovenian, re-ceived a Teacher Stipend by the Euro-pean Studies Consortium to participatein a workshop “Developing ClassroomMaterials for Less Commonly TaughtLanguages” at CARLA Summer Insti-tute at the University of Minnesota,August 2-6, 2004. She has recently re-viewed Peter Herrity’s Slovene: A Com-prehensive Grammar for CanadianSlavonic Papers (XLIV (2002), 3-4, andAndrea Albretti’s Colloquial Slovenefor SEEJ (to appear in summer 2004).

2003 was a productive year for Dr.Yaroslava Tsiovkh, lecturer in Ukrai-nian. The second edition of her text-book, Modern Ukrainian with a Focuson Civilization, came out, published bythe Ivan Franko National UniversityPress in Lviv, Ukraine. This textbook’sprincipal objectives are to develop stu-dents’ communication skills on the ad-vanced level through consistent engage-ment with cultural themes, as well asskills in translation both from Ukrainianinto English and from English intoUkrainian. A number of language pro-grams, including the one at Ivan FrankoUniversity, have adopted Dr. Tsiovkh’stextbook. She was particularly pleasedto learn that her textbook has been usedat FSI (Foreign Service Institute).

Bosnian/ Croatian/ Serbian in the SlavicDepartment. In 2003 three of his linguis-tics articles appeared: “‘Semelfactive’-n- and the Western Aspect Gestalt,” inJournal of Slavic Linguistics 10(1);“Verbal Aspect in Slovene,” inSprachtypologie und Universalien-forschung 56(3); and “DelimitativeVerbs in Russian, Czech and Slavic”coauthored with Julie Hutcheson, whichappeared in American Contributions tothe 13th International Congress ofSlavists. Volume 1: Linguistics. He alsopublished a teaching essay, “TeachingBosnian/Croatian/ Serbian Language(s)and Culture(s) After the Breakup ofYugoslavia,” in AAASS Newsnet 44/1.At the KU CREES Laird Brown BagLecture Series he presented a talk on“Tuzla: A Microcosm of PostwarBosnia.” He received a New FacultyGeneral Research Fund Grant to facili-tate research on his current book project,The Evolution of Slavic Aspect.

Dr. Irina Fedyunina-Six, lecturer inRussian, presented a paper on “The Suc-cesses and Failures of Western Adver-tising in Russia” at a CIBER-fundedconference, “Business, Language, Tech-nology,” at the University of Connecti-cut April 1-3. On April 13 she was in-vited to William Jewell College in In-dependence, Missouri, to speak to com-munications and marketing studentsabout “Why Russians Are Not Moti-vated by American Advertising.”

In 2003-2004 Professor Marc L.Greenberg published the articles“Word Prosody in Slovene from a Ty-pological Perspective” in Sprach-typologie und Universalienforschung(Berlin: Akademie Verlag); “Is Slaviceta an Indo-European Archaism?” in In-ternational Journal of Slavic Linguis-tics and Poetics. Minor works: “HenrikBirnbaum – Remembering a GreatTeacher” in Slovenski jezik / SloveneLinguistic Studies. He also translated anarticle by Roberto Dapit (Udine) fromItalian to English for Slovenski jezik /Slovene Linguistic Studies, wrote re-view articles of two historical linguis-tics handbooks for The Linguist List(June 13 and August 15 issues), and a

11

grams” are used to enrich student opportunities, e.g., reward-ing the outstanding achievements of undergraduate and gradu-ate students at the annual Honors Awards Reception in April.Students are given books, individually selected by Slavic De-partment faculty members, relating to their Slavic studies in-terests. In the future, we hope to establish a scholarship forundergraduate students to study in a Slavic country and agraduate scholarship offered to an outstanding graduate stu-dent each year.

It is possible to name scholarship funds to honor indi-viduals. If you wish to establish a fund, please call ProfessorMarc L. Greenberg (Department Chair) or Professor EdithClowes (Chair, Friends of Slavic), and we will help you workwith the KU Endowment Association. Please make your checkout to “Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures—KUEA” and state your wishes. At minimum, please includethe words “to support Slavic Department programs.”

Donations to the Joseph L. Conrad Memorial Fund maybe made in the same way, but please specify in your letter thatyou wish the proceeds to go to this fund. Funds will be usedto support Slavic Department students and their educationalactivities.

For updates on our funding initiatives and a listing of pastdonors, see http://www.ku.edu/~slavic/donor.shtml

Marc L. Greenberg

PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORTYOUR SLAVIC DEPARTMENT!

Dear Friends of Slavic,

Donations to the Department of Slavic Languages & Lit-eratures have continued to grow steadily, with the 2003–2004being a record-breaking year not only in terms of the dollarsreceived, but also the number of donors who have contrib-uted. We are grateful for all donations to support our activi-ties. These extra dollars help us to give meaningful awards(books, CDs, DVDs) to outstanding students at the annualhonors reception in the spring, to put on events where stu-dents can meet with and discuss academic issues with visitingscholars, and to purchase additional pedagogical and schol-arly materials for the library. In the future we hope that wewill have enough money to award scholarships to students ofSlavic languages and literatures.

This year we have been touched by the loss of our dearcolleague, Joseph L. Conrad, whom you have read about else-where in this issue. Prof. Conrad’s family is working with theEndowment to establish a scholarship fund in his memory.Although some donations have already been received, thisproject needs matching contributions from friends and col-leagues.

Although we are not permitted to solicit funds directly,we are able to receive funds that are sent to us with explicitinstructions for their use. Generally, any funds that are sentwith a letter designating “to support Slavic Department pro-

Join the KU Friends of Slavic!

I am contributing in the amount of:

_____$25 _____$50 _____$100 _____$250 _____$500 _____$1000

Other ________

TO:

_____Graduate scholarship fund

_____Library fund

_____Undergraduate award fund

_____Discretionary fund

If paying by check, please make payment to: Dept of Slavic Languages and Literatures c/o KUEA

12

The University of KansasThe Lawrencian ChronicleDepartment of Slavic Languages and LiteraturesWescoe Hall1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 2133Lawrence, KS 66045-7590

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAID

Lawrence, KSPermit No. 65

2004-2005 Summer StudyAbroad Programs

•University of St. Petersburg

•Ukrainian Language & AreaStudies in L’viv, Ukraine

•Krakow, Poland

•Zagreb & Dubrovnik, Croatia

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 20, 2004, Lied Family Summer Arts Festival

September 20, 2004, 3:30 p.m., Bettina Kaibach(Bonn) on JiÍí Weil and the Holocaust

October 1, 2004, 7:30 p.m., Virsky Ukrainian Na-tional Dance Company

October 19, 2004, 7:30 p.m., Prague Philharmonia

October 27, 2004, 3:00 p.m., Caryl Emerson(Princeton) on Bakhtin

January 8-19, 2005, Winter Institute in Prague