John Gould and Kevin Deegan-Krause are looking for paper-givers and discussants/chair for the panel listed below. Deadline is coming up fast, so please contact John Gould at jgould[at]ColoradoCollege.edu

Panel Title: Robert Fico’s First Term: Origins, achievements and prospects
Abstract: In June 2006, popular left-candidate Robert Fico established a center-left government amid pledges to unroll the neoliberal economic social and economic reforms of his predecessor. This panel evaluates Fico’s performance at the conclusion of his first term from the perspectives of political competition, policy implementation, economic performance and international relations.

Mark Stolarik is looking to put together the next issue of the scholarly annual Slovakia. This is a good time to remind our members to send him any of their recent writings for possible publication. He would be grateful to receive them by the end of December, 2009. You can follow up with him by e-mail for further information on submissions at stolarik@uottawa.ca

THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL CZECH STUDIES WORKSHOP will be held April 9-10 2010 at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. As in the past, Slovak topics will also receive consideration. Also as in the past, the primary focus is on allowing junior faculty and graduate students to present their research in the limited space available. Those interested in applying should submit
1. Full address and institutional affiliation
2. Contact information, including daytime phone, e-mail address
3. Paper title and 250 word abstract
4. Curriculum vitae

Mail to Chad Bryant
Department of History
CB #3195, Hamilton Hall
UNC-CH
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195

Deadline: 8 January 2009

Janeil Engelstad, Fulbright Fellow to the Slovak Republic (2006-2007) has created a website called "Voices From the Center: Central Europeans reflect on life before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall Project Narrative" which can be found at: http://www.voicesfromthecenter.net

The project's description is as follows:
Throughout history there have been moments when people pause to reflect upon their identities as a group and as individuals. In examining the past, they consider the present, and articulate their concerns and hopes for the future.

For the nations of Central Europe such a moment is at hand with the twentieth anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall in Novemeber 2009.

Through "Voices From the Center," people’s reflections about life during and after communism will be documented in a web-based project that also includes lectures and exhibitions throughout Central Europe and the United States.

This month brings a nice series of articles by Michaela Stankova in the Slovak Spectator about Slovaks abroad which looks also at those who study Slovakia. In particular the article Spreading the Word through Slovak Studies has some good things to say about the SSA and about Slovak Studies programs in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Ottawa, with quotations from SSA members Martin Votruba, Jerry Sabo and Mark Stolarik. Since the Spectator occasionally takes articles offline, there is a permanent link to the article (in easy-to-forward .pdf format) here:
http://www.la.wayne.edu/polisci/kdk/slovakstudies/Slovak%20Spectator_Slovaks%20in%20the%20World.pdf (see page 7, upper right).

The Center for European Studies (CES) at the University of Florida is conducting a search for a full-time non-tenure track position of Lecturer in Modern European Studies to begin Fall 2009. The position carries a 75% administrative and 25% academic appointments and the academic appointment is related to Czech and Slovak Studies.

For more information, contact:
Petia Kostadinova, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor, Dept of Political Science
Asst. Director, Center for European Studies
University of Florida
3324 Turlington Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611-7342

From Michal Kovac, Regional Director, Euro-Atlantic Center, University of Economics in Bratislava

University of Economics in Bratislava announces the first year of its Summer School of Central European for Slovak as well as foreign students who are interested in advanced and more interactive study during the months of July and August.

The Czechoslovak Studies Association is pleased to announce again its prize for the Best Book in the Field of Czechoslovak Historical Studies. This prize was first awarded in 2007 to Pieter M. Judson for his Guardians of the Nation: Activists on the Language Frontiers of Imperial Austria (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006). This year’s award will be presented at the Czechoslovak Studies Association’s meeting at the AAASS Convention in Boston in November for works published in 2007 or 2008.

The Fulbright Scholar Program for Faculty and Professionals is offering a variety of opportunities for both area and non-area specialists to lecture, conduct research, or carry out both activities in the Baltic States, Central and Eastern Europe, and Eurasia for academic year 2010-11. The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program offers awards that range from 2 to 10 months. Scholars may conduct research independently or in collaboration with host country colleagues. Applications are welcome from scholars in a broad range of disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. Opportunities also exist for professionals in such fields as law, public administration, conflict resolution, journalism, library science, and education. While many awards specify project and host institution, there are a number of open "All Discipline" awards that allow candidates to propose their own projects and determine their host institution affiliation.

SLOVAK GOVERNMENT OFFERS SCHOLARSHIP FOR SLOVAKS LIVING ABROAD.
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MAY 30, 2009.

The Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic sponsors a Government Scholarship Program. The details of the scholarship program are as follows: