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Highlights In September Professor Eloy Placer joined the staff of the Department of Foreign Languages in the capacity of Head of the Spanish Program. Professor Placer has specialized in Basque literature and has many notable publications to his credit (including a book on the Basque element in the writings of the novelist Pio Baroja). Professor Placer is a consultant to the Basque Studies Program and plans to teach a course in Basque literature in our 1970 summer session in Ustaritz (France). We all welcome him to the staff of the University and look forward to his future contributions to the Basque Studies Program. This past summer Jon Bilbao and William Douglass conducted a research project in Elko, Nevada. The purpose of the study was to gain information concerning the historical movement of the Basques into Elko County and their present situation (e.g., size of population, occupations, social activities, etc.). With the information a grant proposal for a longer-range study was developed and presented to the National Science Foundation. We are presently awaiting action on the proposal. If the grant is awarded, we intend to initiate an eighteen month project, focused primarily on Elko but employing comparative data from other areas, which will lead to publication of a book- length study of the Basques of the American West. At this time we wish to thank the people of Elko. We were well received in the community and enjoyed almost total cooperation from everyone. We are particularly grateful for the good response to our questionnaire. During the fall semester William Douglass has been teaching a course on Old World Basque Culture on the Reno campus. The course carries credit from the Department of Anthropology. There are fifteen students in the course. Preliminary arrangements have been made to give the same course in Winnemucca during the spring semester. Jon Bilbao has been teaching a course on Elementary Spoken Basque this fall on the Reno campus. We regret to report that enrollment has been disappointing. In part, this was due to inadequate publicity. However, if there is not greater response in the future, the language courses may have to be suspended. The new Basque Book Series announced in our last Newsletter will soon become a reality. Our first publication should appear sometime before the summer. It is premature to announce the title, but we believe that the first publication will be of great interest to the readers of this Newsletter. In November Dr. Joseph H. Gaiser, Professor Emeritus at the Eastern Oregon College of Education, visited the Program. Professor Gaiser wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Basques of the Jordan Valley (Oregon) area. In December Jon Bilbao visited Boise to address the Basque community at the Boise Basque Center and the student body of Boise College. He discussed our plans for a summer session abroad in Basque Studies. A number of students expressed strong interest in attending. We would like to thank the people of Boise for the fine reception extended to Professor Bilbao. We wish to thank the Reno Basque Club for their recent donation of $500 to the Basque Studies Program. This assistance is greatly appreciated. The funds will be used to broaden our activities. We wish to express our deepest sympathies to the Goicoa family of Elko for their loss at the death of Nick Goicoa. At the same time we wish to thank the family for their magnificent gesture to the Basque Studies Program. The Goicoa family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Program. |
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