August 18, 2005
Latvian lectureship celebrated in visit
The prime minister of Latvia, Aigars Kalvitis, visited the UW last week as part of a celebration for a new lectureship in Latvian language set to begin fall quarter. The UW has committed $20,000 annually for the lectureship; the Latvian Secretariat for Social Integration matched the amount for one year, with a good chance that it will be renewed in future years.
Vice Provost Susan Jeffords welcomed the prime minister and six other members of the Latvian government to campus and spoke of the University’s pride in the Baltic Studies Program, which is the only such program in the country. (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are the three Baltic states.) The program is housed in the Scandinavian Studies Department and supported by both Scandinavian Studies and the Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Program.
Replying to Jeffords, Kalvitis said, “The Government of Latvia wishes to express its gratitude to the University of Washington, for its contributions to American knowledge about Latvia and Latvian language, culture and history.”
The UW was, in fact, the first university in the country to teach the Latvian language when it established Baltic Studies in 1994. Guntis Smidchens, who heads the program, said it began in response to graduate students who were doing research on Baltic topics and were unable to find language training. Since then, the UW has become the leader of a consortium of 10 American universities who pool money to teach intensive Baltic language courses at the annual Baltic Studies Summer Institute.
UW Libraries has established an exchange with the Latvian National Library and now holds the largest collection of Latvian books at any American university library. Two other Latvian visitors — the minister of culture and the head of the national library — had a separate visit to the campus last week and toured the collection.
Latvian classes are at present relatively small, and only one level of the language can be taught per year. The lectureship will make it possible to offer both an elementary and a second-year level in one year, thus expanding the number of students who can enroll, Smidchens said.
Iveta Grinberga, a lecturer at the University of Latvia, has been hired as the new lecturer. Her arrival in September will mean that Smidchens can concentrate on teaching Baltic history and culture.
A longer term goal is to create a
$3 million endowment for Baltic Studies; $1.3 million has already been raised.
Prime Minister Kalvitis’ visit came about after he contacted the Latvian embassy, asking to stop at the University during a working tour of the U.S. The embassy in turn contacted Smidchens.
Jeffords told the prime minister that in 2009 — the 100th anniversary of Scandinavian Studies and the 15th of Baltic Studies — the University plans to plant some trees in honor of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. Trees were originally planted in the campus’ International Grove in 1932 by representatives of those countries, but the trees have since died. Jeffords invited Kalvitis to return for the 2009 ceremony.
Joked the prime minister, “We will definitely come, but I don’t think we can bring a tree with us on the plane.”
