Welcome!
The Harriman Institute at Columbia University is the oldest academic institution in the United States devoted to the study of the countries of the former Soviet Union, East Central Europe and the Balkans. Our mission is to serve our large and diverse community at the university and beyond by supporting instruction and dialogue, sponsoring vibrant, multidisciplinary events that bring together our extraordinary resources of faculty, students, and alumni. Most important, we are committed to training the next generation of regional specialists to play leadership roles in setting the academic and scholarly agenda, making policy and challenging accepted truths about how we study our rapidly changing world.
The academic year 2009-10 promises to be an especially exciting one at the Institute. From among the many innovative events planned for this year, let me highlight a few. On November 20th, the Institute will look back on five years since the October Revolution with a daylong conference.
On February 26-27, we will present a two-day symposium “After Communism: Achievement and Disillusionment since 1989” in association with the Polish Cultural Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, and Austrian Cultural Forum as part of the Festival “Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe.”
On March 11, we will kick off fundraising efforts for a Georgian Studies Center at Harriman with a performance by the Synetic Theater Company (http://www.synetictheater.org) at Miller Theater on the Columbia campus at 116th Street and Broadway.
Throughout the year, the core project on the “New Modes of Communication in the Post-Soviet World” will bring together scholars from diverse disciplines in a number of conferences, workshops, and other events under the leadership of Professors Catharine Nepomnyashchy and Alan Timberlake.
In addition, we will host a number of events related to Russian, Georgian, and US relations, the expansion of the EU in the Balkans, the battle against HIV/AIDs in Kazakhstan, new interpretations of Lysenkoism and other topics.
Finally, scholars from across the social sciences will examine what we have learned about postcommunism in the last 20 years in a conference this spring.
Unless otherwise specified, Harriman Institute events are free and open to the public. We urge you to visit both the Harriman website and Harriman events as often as possible and to send suggestions for events and initiatives you would like to see the Harriman Institute undertake. We hope to see or hear from you soon.
Regards,
Timothy M. Frye
Director, Harriman Institute
Link to website
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