We would like to congratulate our friend, Pittsburgh University professor Tony Novosel on winning the Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award.
The Chancellor’s letter pulled from all the endorsements Tony got from Northern Ireland including one from a Dalaradia member.
Tony is being honored for “the important impact that you have had on communities and students in Northern Ireland and on the ongoing peace process,” the chancellor’s letter states. “Through oral histories, presentations, writing, panel discussion, friendships and mentorships you have had a powerful positive impact on political factions, communities and students.”
He first visited Northern Ireland at the height of the conflict in 1973 and admits he knew very little about the causes of the war, but set about to study it. Since then, he has visited Northern Ireland more than 50 times and began researching his book, Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism, in 2006. Before carrying out his research, Novosel admits going into the project with a negative view of loyalism. “I thought of loyalism as nothing more than fascism,” he said. “To outsiders like me, they were Neanderthals. We thought of them as being similar to the Afrikaners in South Africa. This is very much a common opinion. For instance, I remember at the beginning of the project, a friend of mine asked me what I was researching. I replied ‘loyalist political thinking’. His immediate response back was, ‘do they think?’. That’s the general attitude that’s out there. However, when I started speaking to the people involved, I saw a very different picture. It’s something that’s difficult to take in at first.”
Well done Tony and we look forward to seeing you again in the near future.
http://www.history.pitt.edu/news/tony-novosel-wins-chancellors-distinguished-public-service-award
You can purchase his book here – http://booksplea.se/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=704034&google=GBP&gclid=CjwKEAjw_PfGBRDW_sutqMbQsmMSJAAMpUapVJtw14W2Ky909LvKpZVX4Whsa1DDTxCA-qvI4eqxUBoCfqnw_wcB
