Michael Long Receives Centennial Professor Award For 2004

Dr. Michael Long, associate professor of Russian and director of Slavic and East European Studies at Baylor University, has been selected to receive the Centennial Professor Award for 2004. The award will allow Long to travel to the Republic of Georgia, where he will conduct research on the restoration of cultural monuments such as churches, monasteries and municipal buildings.
"Georgia has architectural monuments dating from the fifth century," Long said. "The needed restoration may be due to age, vandalism, conversion to other uses, natural disasters or neglect because of Communist Party policies."
During a period of 12 days, Long will visit, examine and photograph the monuments and interview government officials who fund and supervise restoration projects and historians and craftsmen who actually carry out the restoration. His research will be used in an article or book that will discuss the needs, issues and successes of restoration of cultural monuments with emphasis on the broader political and historical forces that have been a factor in the upkeep of these buildings.
"This project will enhance my teaching of the introductory course to Slavic and Eastern European studies, in which I spend considerable time on the role of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the region," Long said. "I also will be able to contribute to the available scholarship on this topic and help fill gaps in the broader picture of the impact of Soviet and Communist Party policy in regard to religious and cultural monuments."
A Baylor alumnus, Long received his bachelor's degree in German and foreign service from the university. He earned a master's degree and doctorate from Indiana University at Bloomington. His book, "Making History: Czech Voices of Dissent and the Revolution of 1989," which is an oral history of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia from the perspective of former Czech dissidents, will be released later this year.
The Class of 1945 -- the Baylor Centennial Class -- established an endowment fund to support faculty development. Each year a tenured faculty member is designated as the Baylor Centennial Professor and is provided with funds for a project that will facilitate the development of his or her ability to function as a university professor and contribute to academic life. Since the award's inception, 17 faculty members from a variety of academic disciplines have been designated Centennial Professors.