Monday, May 12, 2014
From ASEEES President–On the Importance of ASEEES Membership
By Stephen E. Hanson, President of ASEEES;Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of the Reves Center for International Studies, College of William and Mary
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the field of Slavic, East European, and Euraisan Studies is truly at a critical juncture. The current crisis in Ukraine and the deteriorating U.S. relationship with Russia have highlighted the need for greater expertise on the entire region. At the same time, funding cuts by universities, states, and federal agencies—in particular, the Department of Education’s Title VI and Department of State’s Title VIII programs—threaten to have a seriously negative impact on the training of the next generation of specialists.
In this uncertain climate, the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Board, staff, and committees have been working vigorously to bring greater public visibility to the work of our members and to our field and to mobilize in order to advocate more effectively for support of Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies.
As President of the Association, I write to ask you to consider joining or renewing your ASEEES Membership to show your support for the field.
Currently, ASEEES is in the process of concluding a year-long strategic planning exercise which will set out a well-defined path for the association for the next 5 years, allowing us to further improve our service to ASEEES members and to better promote the field to the public. The new ASEEES website, www.aseees.org, is another component of our strategy to increase the impact and outreach of our scholarly association. I would like to encourage you to explore our website to see these and other exciting new developments in ASEEES.
Having served as an officer and chair of the Advocacy Committee since 2013, I have seen how essential it is to have a dynamic professional association with a growing membership to advocate for the field. Please review the Membership Benefits and consider joining/rejoining ASEEES so that you can benefit from all of the services our association now provides.
We also offer reduced membership fees for eligible members permanently residing in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
If you do not wish to renew your membership at this time but would like to make a contribution to support ASEEES’ efforts, please see our Donate page.
Thank you for your interest in and support of ASEEES. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me, the Board, or Lynda Park, our Executive Director, at lypark@pitt.edu.
If you need assistance regarding your membership, please contact Jonathon Swiderski, membership coordinator, at +1-412-648-9911 or aseees@pitt.edu.