News & Events11/2007

November 8, 2007
Contact: Emanuel Costache '09
Media Relations Intern
413/542-2321
Caroline Jenkins Hanna
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—William Taubman, Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, has been elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), a nonprofit, non-political scholarly society. Elected in 2007, Taubman will serve in 2008 as vice-president/president-elect of the AAASS and in 2009 as the association’s president.

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2003) and several other books on Russia and the former Soviet Union, Taubman has been a member of the Amherst faculty since 1967 and regularly teaches courses on Russian politics, national identity, personality and political leadership and various topics relating to the Cold War. In 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to support the research for a forthcoming biography of Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Educated at Harvard and Columbia Universities, Taubman has served as an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, chair of the Advisory Committee of the Cold War International History Project at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations with the Department of State.

The AAASS is the world’s leading private organization for the study of former Soviet Union (including Eurasia) and Eastern and Central Europe. Sponsor of The Slavic Review, the association supports teaching, research and publication relating to the peoples and territories within these areas.

The association is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies, and its representatives serve on such bodies as the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee for Studies of Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the former Soviet Union and the International Council for Central and East European Studies.

November 8, 2007
Contact: Molly Brown
Robert Frost Library
413/542-5028
Caroline Jenkin Hanna
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—Steve Horn ’72, photographer and author of Pictures Without Borders: Bosnia Revisited, will talk about his work and life experiences Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Pruyne Auditorium of Amherst College’s Fayerweather Hall. Following his discussion, a reception will be held at the Robert Frost Library, where photographs of this collection will be on display in the gallery. Both events are free and open to the public.

Horn’s images of Bosnia, taken in 1970 and upon his return visit in 2003, illustrate the innocence of a country under the Communist regime followed by the triumph of the human spirit in the aftermath of civil war. His compelling photographs are an evocative portrait of a country and a people who have endured grievous hardships and found the will not only to survive, but to live.

The exhibition will remain on display in the gallery of the Frost Library until the end of January 2008. The lecture, reception and photographic display are being sponsored by Amherst’s Office of the President.

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November 6, 2007
Contact: Caroline Jenkins Hanna
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—Former Duke University lacrosse coach Mike Pressler will discuss his new book, It’s Not About the Truth, and the relationship between an academic administration and its student athletes at Amherst College’s Johnson Chapel at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13. His lecture, also titled “It’s Not About The Truth,” is free and open to the public.

Pressler is currently entering his second year as head coach of the Bryant University men’s lacrosse team. Before starting at Bryant, he served as head coach of the Duke University men’s lacrosse team for 16 seasons, until he resigned amid a scandal that made national headlines. At Duke, he compiled a 153-82 overall record and led the Blue Devils to three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships, 10 NCAA tournament berths and an appearance in the 2005 Division I men’s lacrosse championship game. Prior to that, he held coaching positions at Ohio Wesleyan University, West Point and Virginia Military Institute. A three-time ACC Coach of the Year and recipient of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s F. Morris Touchstone Award as the National Coach of the Year in 2005, Pressler’s overall head coaching record stands at 229-102 in 22 seasons. He ranks among the nation’s top 10 active coaches in both career victories and overall winning percentage.

The lecture is sponsored by Amherst College Athletics.

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