KU News Release

KU Slavic languages students receive awards at annual recognition event

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LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures recognized 26 students for academic excellence and outstanding service and presented the first Joseph L. Conrad Memorial Awards.

During a reception in April, Marc Greenberg, professor and department chair, gave the Conrad awards to two students in Slavic languages and literatures: Olena Chervonik-Bearden, Lawrence master’s degree student, and Sidney Dement, Overland Park doctoral student. The Conrad Fund, a bequest from the family of Joseph L. Conrad, former professor and department chair, allows students to travel to conferences to disseminate their research. Each student received a $200 honorarium.

Both Conrad award recipients presented papers at the national meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages in December in Philadelphia, Pa. Chervonik-Bearden’s paper was titled “Muse or Anti-Muse? The Concept of the Creative Act in the Poetry of Karolina Pavlova.” Dement’s paper was titled “Empire and Identity in D.A. Prigov’s ‘Moskva i moskvichi.’ ”

Two students were inducted into Dobro Slovo, a national honor society for students majoring in Russian language and literature: Adrienne Harris-Boggess, Lawrence doctoral student, and Michelle Tran, Derby spring 2007 graduate. Harris-Boggess was also recognized for outstanding service by a graduate student to the department.

Kathryn Zickuhr, Wichita senior in history and Slavic languages and literatures, received a Harley S. Nelson Scholarship Award that is made available through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for noteworthy senior undergraduates in any humanities or social science department. She will serve as the undergraduate representative to the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures during the next academic year.

Students received certificates and book awards for excellence in various levels of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Turkish and Ukrainian. KU is the only university in the Great Plains to offer doctoral degrees, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in Slavic languages and literatures. The department by itself and in conjunction with the Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies offers Slavic-related events throughout the year. The area studies program, one of only 12 such federally funded national resource centers, provides a wide range of Slavic courses offered by more than 50 faculty members in 16 departments.

Students who received awards are listed below by hometown, major, parents’s names, high school and award. Students with more than one award or major are listed multiple times.

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