Journalism professor appointed to council

Andris Straumanis, an associate professor in the department of journalism at UW-River Falls, has been appointed to the advisory council of the recently created Diaspora and Migration Research Center at the University of Latvia.

Straumanis, who joined the UWRF faculty in 2005, initiated the idea of a diaspora studies center in Latvia during the summer of 2012. The center was formally established at the Rīga-based university at the start of this academic year. Straumanis pursues research in the history of the Latvian immigrant press and the nature of diasporic media.

The focus of the center is to examine vari- ous aspects of emigration from Latvia, both contemporary and historic. Migration–propelled by economic conditions, revolution and war has been a constant theme for the Latvian people, with tens of thousands of persons having left since the country joined the European Union in 2004.

The center will be led by Aija Lulle, a professor of human geography at the University of Latvia.