The Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) is pleased to announce the 2015 Weiser Professional Development Fellows, who were selected through a competitive review process. This year the program welcomes eleven scholars who will reside in Ann Arbor for three to four weeks and work on projects with U-M faculty. Nicole Howeson, academic program manager at WCEE, says that the program received a record number of applications this year, and was able to make a record number of awards—up from nine fellows in 2014.

Weiser Professional Development Fellows spend their time at U-M conducting research and collaborating with faculty. This year the cohort includes the first fellow from Azerbaijan, as well as scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Slovak Republic, and Ukraine. U-M faculty partners in the fields of astronomy, business, bioinformatics, classical studies, education, English, public policy, screen arts and cultures, and sociology will consult with Weiser Fellows on their projects. Information about the 2015 Weiser Professional Development Fellows and their advisors follows:

Svetlana Chitu is associate professor of curriculum design and monitoring at the Free International University of Moldova and associate professor of curriculum theory and methodology at the University of European Political and Economic Studies. While at U-M, she will complete research on a project entitled, “Curriculum Development in Higher Education: Bologna Process Perspective,” in cooperation with Lisa R. Lattuca, professor of education.

Irina Demetradze, assistant professor of archaeology at Ilia State University in Georgia, will work on a project exploring Romans in Asiatic Iberia. Her U-M host advisor is Christopher Ratté, professor of classical studies and history of art.

Irfan Hosic, assistant professor of art history at the University of Bihac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will work on a project entitled “Image of Crisis,” analyzing and comparing artistic practices in post-industrial Bosnia and Detroit. He will collaborate with his host advisor, Christopher McNamara, lecturer in screen arts and cultures.

Violeta Kalnytska, lecturer in English at Kharkiv National Medical University in Ukraine, will work with her U-M host advisor, E.J. Westlake, associate professor of music and English, on the project, “Identity in Graham Greene’s Postcolonial Novels.”

Bidzina Kapanadze is assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Ilia State University in Georgia. He will collaborate with Hugh Aller, Ralph Baldwin Professor of Astronomy, on a study of multiwavelength flux variability in blazars.

Vafa Kazdal is dean of the School of Education at ADA University in Azerbaijan. While at U-M, she will work on a project related to educational leadership with her host advisor, Stephen L. DesJardins, professor of education and public policy.

Dragi Kimovski is assistant professor of computer science and interim dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at St. Paul the Apostle University of Information Science and Technology in Ohrid, Macedonia. He will collaborate on the project, “High Performance Computing Application for Modeling of the Metabolic Factors,” with Kayvan Najarian, associate professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics.

Besnik Krasniqi, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and small business at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo, will work on a project entitled, “Institutional Quality and High Growth Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies.” His U-M host advisor is John Branch, lecturer of marketing and strategy at the Ross School of Business.

Tamar Lominadze is professor of information technology and learning systems at the Georgian Technical University in Tbilisi. She will work with Perry J. Samson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Atmospheric Science, on a project exploring the implementation of modern information and communications technology in education.

Oleksii Shestakovskyi is a lecturer in sociology at the National Technical University of Ukraine’s Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and a research fellow in the Institute for Economics and Forecasting at the National Academy of Sciences in Ukraine. He will attend the Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research at U-M in summer 2015.

Michal Vasecka is associate professor of sociology at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. While at U-M, he will work on his project, “The Role of Antisemitism in Processes of Modernization of Central Europe after 1989,” with Geneviève Zubrzycki, associate professor of sociology.


More information about the Weiser Professional Development Fellowship

Contact: Zana Kwaiser, Academic Program Specialist
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
University of Michigan
Phone: 734.764.0351
E-mail: weisercenter@umich.edu