Michelson’s book wins international award
Huntington, Ind. "Romanian Politics, 1859-1872 by Dr. Paul Michelson, distinguished professor of history at Huntington College, has been awarded the Nicolae Balcescu History Prize by the Romanian Academy, Bucuresti, Romania. This is one of three history prizes awarded each year by the Romanian Academy. Prof. Michelson will formally receive the award next summer in Romania.
The book, Romanian Politics, 1859-1871: From Prince Cuza to Prince Carol, was published in 1998 by the Center for Romanian Studies in Iasi, Romania. It presented "for the first time in any language "a systematic description and analysis of Romanian political life in the critical first decade of Romanian development following the establishment of the modern Romanian national state in 1859.
This is the second prestigious award for the work. In 1999, Romanian Politics was selected by CHOICE as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1998, based on overall excellence in presentation and scholarship, and importance relative to other literature in the field. P. W. Knoll of the University of Southern California wrote, Michelson's approach is one of careful and detailed narrative... His long years of immersion in the archives and mastery of such sources are evident from his text and the notes. This work is thorough and reliable.
The Romanian Academy was founded in 1866 as the national institution for the cultivation of the Romanian language, letters, sciences, and fine arts. In addition to the sponsorship of major cultural projects (such as a comprehensive dictionary of Romanian, the publication of several series of historical documents, 94 periodicals in all fields of study, and the largest research library in the country), the Romanian Academy includes 66 research institutes.
Prof. Michelson was three times a Fulbright research fellow in Romania (1971-1972, 1982-1983, and 1989-1990), where he did work at the Romanian Academy's Institutes of History in Bucuresti, Cluj, and Iasi, as well as the Academy Library. He holds the Ph.D in History from Indiana University.
He began teaching at Huntington College in 1974 and was named Distinguished Professor of History in 1992. He has twice been Faculty Lecturer and in 1996 was presented the Huntington College Centennial Medallion. In addition to his Fulbright fellowships, he been a National Merit Scholar, an Indiana University Graduate Fellow, a Richard M. Weaver Fellow, a Foreign Area Fellowship Program Fellow, and an International Research & Exchanges Board Fellow.
He has served as the Secretary-Editor for the Society for Romanian Studies since 1978, and was program chair for the first three SRS International Congresses of Romanian Studies (1986, 1993, 1997). He is serving as program chair for the forthcoming Fourth SRS International Congress to be held this summer in Suceava, Romania. He is a member of the national board of the South East European Studies Association, served 12 years on the national council of Alpha Chi National Honor Scholarship Society, and is on the editorial boards of Balkanistica, the Revue Des Etudes Sud-East Europennes, The New International Journal Of Romanian Studies, Romanian Civilization, and Bibliophilos. He is also co-editor of the Conference On Faith And History's newsletter.
Prof. Michelson has been a visiting lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington DC, Ohio State University, Georgetown University, Wake Forest University, the University of Bucuresti, the University of Moldova, the Air Force Academy, and other universities. He has also been a visiting fellow at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the St. Petersburg Technical Institute in Russia. He appears regularly on the Voice of America's Romanian Service.
He is active in the College Park United Brethren in Christ Church, where he serves as lay leader, and as a member of the General Board of the United Brethren in Christ and a member of the denomination's Executive Leadership Team from 1993 to the present.
Prof. Michelson is the author of Conflict And Crisis (1987) and over 60 professional articles, as well as the co-author of A History Of Romania (1995; third edition 1997).
In addition to his East European and Romanian interests, Prof. Michelson also does research on C. S. Lewis and was a participant in the C. S. Lewis Centennial Conference in 1998 at Oxford and Cambridge.
