Faculty Honored by Romanian University
SALISBURY, MD---A faculty delegation from Salisbury State University was honored recently by the "Alexandru Joan Cuza" University in the city of Iasi, the capital of Moldavia, at a reception following a lecture on "Shakespeare and Spectacle" given by SSU Professor Jim Welsh. Also present were Drs. Robert Berry and Greg Ference of the SSU History Department and Dr. Thomas L. Erskine of the English faculty who is currently teaching on a Fulbright fellowship in Romania.
The delegation met with Dr. Stefan Av danei, Pro-Rector (vice chancellor) of international relations at the Romanian university, who helped to arrange the trip over Salisbury State's spring break and extended the invitations as part of the academic exchange agreement between the two universities established by SSU President William Merwin in 1997. The exchange has brought several Romanian graduate students to Salisbury State, three of whom have already graduated. Laura Savu, who will earn her M.A. in May, has recently been given a fellowship for doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She will be the third Romanian graduate from Salisbury State to pursue doctoral studies elsewhere.
During his last Fulbright assignment to Romania in 1998 Welsh wrote an introduction to a Romanian parallel text edition of Shakespeare's King Lear, to be published by the Institutul European Press in April. Welsh and his colleague Berry sat for an hour-long interview for Europa Nova Television to discuss the new book and the accomplishments of the academic exchange agreement, which they would like to see continued after a new president has been named for Salisbury State. The program has been reciprocal and beneficial to both schools, and the Romanian students have been outstanding, as Berry and Welsh explained on Romanian television. Meanwhile, SSU Provost Donald Cathcart has agreed to continue the exchange for one more year.