Dear friends and donors,
We at CREES had an exceptional academic year in 2023-2024 and have welcomed the new semester in earnest. The war in Ukraine rages on, political repression in Russia intensifies, and political and societal shifts continue throughout the region - reminders of the importance of our commitment to our academic, regional, and campus community partners. Our continued efforts for “all things CREES” is evident in our programming, including in the REEES course offerings and our public lectures, none of which would not be possible without alumni and supporters like you.
Our programming reflects a diverse series of events touching upon many current events and presenting opportunities to learn from the past. This fall, journalist and Ukraine expert Terrell Starr will launch our CREES Noon Lecture series, Belarusian writer and public intellectual Victor Martinovich will join us for a discussion, and Aleksandr Hemon, Bosnian-American author, essayist, critic, television writer, and screenwriter will be giving our Annual Borka Tomljenovic Lecture. We hope you can join us for these and many other compelling events. Find out more on our website.
In addition to our own programs, we have partnered to co-sponsor lectures that focus on the region, both on the U‑M campus and externally. Last academic year, this included co-sponsoring the multidisciplinary virtual event series “Queer Focus: Gender and Sexualities in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.” We also celebrated a return to in-person conferences by co-sponsoring the 2023 Annual ASEEES Convention and hosting a reception. It was great to see many of our faculty, students, alumni, and friends of CREES and we look forward to a robust presence again at ASEEES next month.
Vital to CREES are our students, including the MA students, graduate student associates, and the BA students, and we were thrilled to welcome a strong cohort this semester and provide many of them with meaningful support to pursue their studies. I hope you, in turn, will consider supporting this important work by giving to the CREES Endowment fund. Your gift will help provide support for faculty and student travel grants, visiting lecturers, conferences, special courses, and other projects related to Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.
Thank you for making all of this possible.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth J. King, PhD, MPH
CREES Director
Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education
Associate Professor of Global Public Health
