Melissa Bokovoy, a regents’ lecturer and professor in the University of New Mexico Department of History, has been elected the newest president of the Association for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). Her term will begin Jan. 1, 2027, as president-elect; she will become president in 2028 and past president in 2029. 

ASEEES is the world’s largest interdisciplinary organization supporting this area of study. Established in 1948, driven by the need for regional expertise that the Cold War created. The organization brought scholars together to advance research and understanding of Slavic countries’ languages, politics, economies, history,  and cultures.  Today, it has grown to over 3,500 members worldwide. The organization supports teaching, research and publication related to the study of the region through its interdisciplinary, leading publication, Slavic Review, its annual convention, book prizes, and its organizational newsletter. 

Bokovoy has been a member of ASEEES for almost four decades, beginning as a graduate student; she describes it as her “scholarly home.” She has served on panels and committees, and soon president-elect, and looks forward to helping steer the organization over the next three years. 

“I was so pleased to be nominated for the presidency by the nominating committee and to be honest, surprised to be elected,” she said. “There are two nominees each cycle, and my co-nominee is from Canada’s premier institution for the study of Russia and Eastern Europe, the University of Toronto, so I never expected to be considered."

Bokovoy’s presidential duties will include working with the association’s Executive Director, Lynda Park, based at the association’s main office at the University of Pittsburgh. She will help plan professional panels for the 2027 annual meeting, and in 2028, she will select that year’s conference theme, run board meetings, make committee appointments, appoint ad hoc committees to carry out specific presidential initiatives, help draft any necessary statements relevant to the association’s mission regarding research and teaching, and deliver the presidential address.

She brings more than three decades of experience, disciplinary leadership and research scholarship to the role. During her 35 years at UNM, she has served two terms as department chair and has written books and has had numerous research articles and chapters published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. 

Her research focuses on 20th-century Yugoslavia and on how people lived under regimes with fundamentally different political and socioeconomic structures over a period of 90 years, specifically examining how people adapted to, changed, and resisted them. 

Her leadership abilities are deeply ingrained in her mindset, as she has spent her career helping others achieve their goals. She has been driven by her passion for expanding access to language study and research to underrepresented groups and for helping faculty advance.  

She continually inspires her students to want to learn more through her course materials, so much so that she led two study abroad programs and supported students in studying the language in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia. 

She has worked with colleagues in the Southwest, ASEEES and the Title VIII centers to recruit students from the region for summer language institutes, graduate programs and other study abroad programs, where she has observed that Spanish heritage speakers have more of an advantage of learning an additional language. 

She is also a founding director of UNM’s International Studies Institute, a collaborative experience that taught her how to build successful programs.  

As president, she will work with each constituent group to understand where they want to see change, what they hope to improve and what they believe should be maintained, while creating diverse pathways into the field.

She shared that three lessons from her work at UNM will shape how she leads ASEEES. 

“First, I believe good teaching and research should be shared with the public as well as with students. Second, once you build structures, then you learn from the people inside them about how to move forward. Lastly, ASEEES has been my professional home since I was a graduate student; I want to lead the association in a way that makes it a home for others,” she said. 

To learn more about Bokovoy’s work at UNM, visit her faculty profile. 

Visit the ASEEES website to learn more about the organization and upcoming events.