KU News Release

Molly Bloedel

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More Information

• Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

LAWRENCE — Last year, University of Kansas student Molly Bloedel had difficulty finding Croatia on a map. But after earning the George C. Jerkovich Croatian and Serbian Award offered by KU’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, she was able to study in Croatia.

Bloede, now a KU junior, had enrolled in a basic Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian class to meet the language requirement for her bachelor’s degree. The Winfield High School graduate is the daughter of Bill and Elin Bloedel of Winfield and is majoring in environmental studies, preparing to study law.

“I wanted to take something different,” she said. “I didn’t want to do a language everybody else did.”

Last spring, Bloedel won the Jerkovich award, which provided cash and a book stipend for summer study in a country where Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian is spoken. She attend the six-week KU Summer Institute in Zadar, Croatia.

Bloedel praises her instructor, Marta Pirnat-Greenberg, lecturer in Slavic languages and literatures, for sharing information about life in Croatia and inspiring her to visit the Eastern European nation. After spending the summer in Croatia, she wants to stay connected and is taking a Slavic folklore class this semester.

At the institute, all presentations were in Croatian. The group took frequent excursions to nearby cultural sites that dated to prehistoric times and early Roman civilizations. Bloedel was among nine undergraduate and graduate students, including six from KU, who applied and qualified for the summer program. She received eight credit hours for her summer study, including six for language.

The Jerkovich Award honors a former professor of Soviet and East European studies and longtime curator of Slavic collections at Watson Library who received the first doctoral degree given by KU’s Slavic department. The award was established by his widow, Miriana Jerkovich, after his death in 1994.

KU has been involved in Croatian language programs, including exchanges fostered by George C. Jerkovich and his department colleagues, for more than 30 years.