It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of our colleague Martin Votruba, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Pitt Slovak Studies Program (Slavic Department, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences). Martin was an invaluable member of our department, a teacher, scholar, and friend.
Education & Training
- PhDr and PhD, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Diploma in English Studies (FS), University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Courses Taught
- Slovak, Czech, and Central European Cinema
- Slovak Transatlantic Cultures
- The Year Communism Crumbled
- A Survey of Slovak History and Culture
- Slovak language (all levels)
Representative Publications
“Trends in 20th Century Slovak Filmmaking,” Slovakia 37
“Linguistic Minorities in Slovakia.” in: Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe.; A Slovak-English Contrastive Grammar (revised ed. 2008); guest editor, KinoKultura, Special Issue 3: Slovak Cinema
“Hang Him High: The Elevation of Jánošík to an Ethnic Icon.” Slavic Review 65
“Comments on ‘Culture and Politics — Rivals or Allies?’” in: The Slovak Republic: A Decade of Independence.
“Historical and National Background of Slovak Filmmaking.” in: KinoKultura, Special Issue 3
Slovakia After the Velvet Revolution: A Tale of Two Intelligentsias.” Slavic Almanach 3
“Highwayman’s Life: Extant Documents about Jánošík.” Slovakia 39
Research Interests
- Slovak studies — language, history, literature, culture
- Slovak and West Slavic linguistics
- Communism and its collapse in Central Europe