Rado Ludovik Lenček (3 October 1921 – 27 January 2005) was a Slovene linguist,

cultural historian Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

and

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

, who lived and worked in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Xenia Slavica : papers presented to Gojko Ružičić on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, 2 February 1969 http://lib.ugent.be/en/catalog?q=Ru%C5%BEi%C4%8Di%C4%87%2C+Gojko%2C+b.+1894&search_field=subject He was a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and contributed significantly to the development of

Slovene studies ''Slovene Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on Slovenes as ethnic group and on Slovene culture. It is published by the Society for Slovene Studies and was established in 1973 as ''Papers in Slovene Studies''. It was ...

in the United States.

Education and early work

Lenček was born in

Mirna MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miR ...

. He finished

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

Novo Mesto Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered ...

in 1940 and then studied Slavic studies at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

. He graduated in 1944 and in 1946 and 1947 continued his studies in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, Italy. After that, he worked for ten years as a professor at different grammar schools in the Allied Military Government administered Zone A of the

Free Territory of Trieste The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath ...

. In Trieste, he also edited the ''Kulturne vesti'' (Cultural News) newsletter of the

United States Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill ...

Life and work in the United States

In 1956, Lenček and his family emigrated to the United States. From 1958 to 1959, he studied at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, after which he enrolled at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, where he received a doctorate in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

and

literatures Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

in 1962. He then taught Slavic languages and literature at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

. In 1965, he started teaching at

in New York, where he remained until his retirement in 1995. From 1975 to 1988, he was the head of the Slavic department. He was also a member of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...

and of several linguistic societies in the United States and Europe.

Awards

Lenček was awarded several times for his work, for example the award of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages in 1994, and the title Honorable Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Science, bestowed on him by the Slovenian Ministry of Science and Technology in 1995 for his achievements in research that contributed to raising Slovenia's international profile. In 2001, he was bestowed the

Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia The Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Častni znak svobode Republike Slovenije) is the highest state decoration of Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a ...

by Slovene President

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (2 ...

for his numerous years of work for raising the profile of and establishing the

Slovene language Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by about 2.5 million speakers worldwide (excluding speak ...

abroad. From 1991 until his death, he was a correspondent member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members ...

. The Rado Lencek Graduate Student Prize of the American

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) is a scholarly society dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about the former Soviet Union (including Eurasia) and Eastern and Central Europe. The ASEEES supports teachi ...

was named after him.

References

External links

;Academic articles written by Lenček:
''Humanism in the Slovene lands''
In ''Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity'' (Vol. 7, No. 2, 1979). ISSN 1465-3923.
''The Terms'' Wende-Winde'','' Wendisch-Windisch ''in the Historiographic Tradition of the Slovene Lands''
In ''Slovene Studies'' (Vol. 12, No. 2, 1990) ISSN 0193-1075.
''On Poetic Functions of the Grammatical Category of Dual''
In ''South Slavic and Balkan Linguistics''. Rodopi B. V. Amsterdam, 1982. .
''A Paradigm of Slavic National Evolution: Bible – Grammar – Poet''
In ''Slovene Studies'' (Vol. 6, No. 1–2, 1984). ISSN 0193-1075. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lencek, Rado Ludovik 1921 births 2005 deaths Slavists University of Chicago alumni Harvard University alumni University of Illinois Chicago faculty Columbia University faculty Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts People from Mirna, Mirna Recipients of the Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia University of Ljubljana alumni Yugoslav emigrants to the United States