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Last week, November 20 - 21, 2019 Yale MacMillan Center hosted Baltic Studies Fellows reunion conference. This event brought to the Yale campus past scholars from Lithuania – those who received the Joseph P. Kazickas Fellowship – and from Latvia and Estonia – those who received the Juris Padegs Fellowship. At the conference, they discussed their scholarly work after their time spent at Yale.
According to Baltic Studies Coordinator at Yale Bradley Woodworth, a key reason for this reunion was to give past Yale Baltic Studies Fellows the opportunity to meet and learn from each other. "Since the creation in 2013 of the Joseph P. Kazickas Fellowship and the Juris Padegs Fellowship, we have brought sixteen scholars - seven Lithuanians, five Estonians, and four Latvians - to study and work at Yale. The 2019-2020 Padegs Fellow just arrived in New Haven and in January we expect two new Kazickas fellows for the spring 2020 semester," shared Mr. Woodworth.
Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas' son John Kazickas participated at the conference on Wednesday, thanked everyone for their work and dedication and shared his father's incredible journey with Yale:
"When Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas emigrated to the United States in 1947 with his wife and daughter, it was the beginning of a new life filled with hope and uncertainty. But his journey would never have been possible without a generous grant from Yale University. It was because of this grant and the hard work that was required that Dr. Kazickas was able to obtain his Ph.D. and begin to realize the American dream of success and prosperity. He always reflected on how important that time was in his life and how one day he would give back to the University that gave him so much. So in 2012 Dr. Kazickas with his entire family and Bradley Woodworth met in East Hampton and formed the Joseph P. Kazickas Post-Doctoral Program. What better way to give back to the University than to have scholars from Lithuania and the Baltics benefit from the amazing resources and opportunities available at Yale as he had so many years ago.
On behalf of the Kazickas Family and our team at he Kazickas Family Foundation, we are honored again to have these wonderful scholars back at Yale. You are part of a special group that we feel privileged to represent our Foundation. It is our hope that all of you will use your experience here to encounter others to see what Yale has to offer and take what you have gained here back to Lithuania and the Baltics. Nothing would have pleased Dr. Kazickas more."
On Thursday Dr. J. P. Kazickas' daughter Jurate Kazickas and son Michael Kazickas came to Yale to learn about the work scholars have been focusing on, discuss their future projects and share their observations.
Joseph P. Kazickas Fellows (year of fellowship and current academic/professional affilitation):
Irina Matijošaitienė (2013-2014), Verisk-ISO Insurance Analytics / Saint Peter’s University, New Jersey
Violeta Davoliūtė (2015-2016), Vilnius University
Jolanta Mickutė (Spring 2017), Lost Shtetl Museum, Vilnius
Vaidotas Vaičaitis (Spring 2017), Vilnius University Law School
Arvydas Grišinas (Fall 2017), Kaunas University of Technology
Mindaugas Šapoka (Fall 2018), Lithuanian Institute of History
Monika Kareniauskaitė (Spring 2019), Central European University
Photos: The Kazickas Family members and the Kazickas Family Foundation representatives with JPK Fellows and conference guests.
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