Contact: Eleni Bastéa 277-8513 Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920

Feb. 5, 2003 UNM'S BASTÉA ELECTED TO SERVE ON MODERN GREEK STUDIES BOARD Professor's focus on built environment to broaden group's perspective Eleni Bastéa, associate professor in the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning, has been elected to serve on the executive board of the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA). "I am deeply honored to be elected to the board for a three-year term, 2003-2005. As an architectural historian, I have conducted most of my original research on the planning and architecture of 19th and 20th century Greece," said Bastéa, author of, "The Creation of Modern Athens: Planning The Myth," published by Cambridge University Press, 2000. The Modern Greek Studies Association, founded in 1968, is an American-based, non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Modern Greek studies in the United States and Canada. Bastéa said that most of the academic research in Modern Greek studies has focused on literature, history and anthropology. "I believe that my research on the built environment can help broaden the existing strengths of the association," she said. She said that Modern Greek studies needs to expand its visibility and counterbalance the occasional isolation of the field by encouraging the active collaboration of Modern Greek scholars with colleagues in other area studies and disciplines. "Unless we foster such collaborative and comparative activities, we may appear irrelevant to students who don't have ties to Greece, or who may not have traveled outside their home state. Since I have always conducted research in a comparative and interdisciplinary fashion, I intend to pursue and encourage the same approach from the position of the MGSA Board," she said, adding that she may also establish closer links with colleagues from European, Mediterranean, Balkan, Turkish or Middle Eastern Studies and encourage them to participate at the MGSA meetings. "I believe that this comparative and interdisciplinary approach to international studies reflects the aims of The University of New Mexico, as it establishes closer ties with other programs in foreign countries. I look forward to bringing my experience from the MGSA Board back to this campus," said Bastéa. MGSA's aim is to stimulate the discovery and diffusion of knowledge about the language, arts, history, politics, economy and society of modern Greece. MGSA's membership is primarily teachers, students, and professional scholars but also includes others actively concerned with modern Greece. ###

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