QUICK LINKS Today's News News releases ISU homepage NEWS RELEASE 05-20-02 Contacts: Andrejs Plakans, History, (515) 294-6686 Dave Gieseke, Liberal Arts and Sciences, (515) 294-7742 Steve Sullivan, News Service, (515) 294-3720 PLAKANS NAMED CHAIR OF IOWA STATE HISTORY DEPARTMENT AMES, Iowa -- Andrejs Plakans, professor of history, has been named chair of the history department at Iowa State University, effective July 1. An Iowa State faculty member since 1975, Plakans succeeds George McJimsey, professor of history, who is completing a three-year term and retiring. Plakans' research and teaching interests include European social history, history of Eastern Europe, population and family history and history of European agriculture. He is the author of four books, including "Historical Dictionary of Latvia." Plakans is a member of the Social Science History Association, the Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies. He was a Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., in 1992 and was a visiting professor of history in 1993 at the University of Latvia. He previously served as department chair from 1987 to 1992. Plakans holds master's and doctoral degrees in history from Harvard University. -30- Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111 Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu Copyright © 1995-2002, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.