History Professor to Speak at Faculty Forum
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2010
Dr. Russell Martin, Westminster College professor of history, will speak at Faires Faculty Forum Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 11:40 a.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater of the McKelvey Campus Center.
Martin will share his research into the Russian Fundamental Laws in his presentation "Law and Familial Order in the Romanov House: Then and Now."
The laws, originally composed in 1797, were a law code governing the succession to the throne and the internal familial order of the ruling Romanov dynasty. The laws, which have eluded study by scholars, offer a fresh look at political power in late Imperial Russia.
Martin, who has been with Westminster since 1996, earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Martin appeared on A&E Biography in a broadcast on Ivan the Terrible as an expert on the controversial ruler. He is the co-founder of the Muscovite Biographical Database, a Russian-American computerized register based in Moscow of early modern Russian notables. The Neville Island, Pa., native is not only fluent in Russian, but also reads Old Church Slavonic/Russian, French, German, Latin, and Polish.
Martin continues to translate from Russian to English the official web site of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, the heiress to the vacant Russian throne. Translations are available at www.imperialhouse.ru. In 2008, Martin was awarded the Order of St. Anna (with the rank of Knight Companion) by the grand duchess for his work on behalf of the House of Romanov.
Faculty Forum was established in 1990 by Dr. Barbara Faires, Westminster professor of mathematics emerita, during her term as Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Faculty members from all disciplines volunteer to present lectures on their current research, artistic productions, and/or scholarship of teaching and learning. Each forum presents new ideas with innovative lecture techniques.
Contact Martin at (724) 946-6254 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu for additional information.
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