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Highlights Last autumn Robert Laxalt was named the first occupant of the Distinguished Nevada Author-in-Residence Chair at the University of Nevada-Reno. He was also recently made the first living member of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame by the Friends of the University Library. Ms. Ellen Brow, currently Latin American and southern European bibliographer for Harvard University's library, has been named Basque librarian for the Basque Studies Program. She will assume her duties in Reno in late May. In January Professor Mila Alvarez Urcelay of the Escuela Universitaria de Magisterio of the San Sebastián campus of the University of the Basque Country began her stay in Reno as the first recipient of our Basque government-sponsored visiting professorship. Professor Alvarez Urcelay is a historian and plans to investigate Basque activities in the New World during the sixteenth century. Her previous research regarded the medieval history of Guipuzcoan towns, and particularly Urretxu. During the spring semester Dr. Jose Mallea is teaching the Basque history class at UNR for the Department of History. Nerea Lete continued to teach the second semester of the Basque-language sequence. William Douglass recently published an article entitled "Basques" in The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins (edited by James Jupp). The book was commissioned as part of Australia's commemoration of its Bicentennial. In November, Jon Bilbao was inducted into the Society for Basque Studies in America's Basque Hall of Fame at its annual dinner held in New York. The honor was in recognition of his lifetime commitment to Basque studies, and particularly his authorship of Eusko Bibliographía. Jon is currently continuing his bibliographic research while founding a cultural institution, Harriluze, in his hometown of Getxo, Vizcaya. Jon is professor emeritus with the Basque Studies Program. Two new student employees, Dena Johnston and Itxaso Sanchez, joined our staff this spring. "Amerikanuak: Basques of the American West" was the topic of a lecture and slide show presented by Linda White to the Westwood Retirement Club of Sparks, NV. In January, Gorka Aulestia presented a program on Basque music and literature to the Nevada Repertoire Club at the Washoe County Public Library. William Douglass addressed the Advisory Board of UNR's College of Arts and Science regarding the history and structure of the Basque Studies Program. The presentation was combined with a Basque dinner at Reno's Santa Fe Hotel. In December German Yanke, editor of Pergola, a cultural magazine published by the city of Bilbao, and Joseba Azkarraga Rodeo, member of the Basque Parliament for the Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) political party, visited the Basque Studies Program. Lisa Tipton-Corcostegui joined our staff as word processing operator to input the second volume of the Basque dictionary. A trade mission organized by the Chambers of Commerce of Alava, Bilbao, and Guipuzcoa visited the Basque Studies Program in December. In addition to Reno, the group also explored trade opportunities in Boise, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The nine Basque business representatives were led by Joseba de Aguirre, general manager of the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce and son of José Antonio de Aguirre, first president of the Basque Country, and William Gisbert, director of foreign trade for the Guipuzcoan Chamber of Commerce and the Exporters Association of Guipuzcoa. Gorka Aulestia presented five conferences in Minden and Gardnerville, NV on the Basque dictionary, Basque music, the coat of arms of the Basque Country, the Basque pastorale, and the history of contemporary Basque politics. |
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