In Memoriam

György Kara (1935-2022)

Professor

Professor of Central Eurasian Studies; Born in Budapest Hungary; First came to IUB in 1986 as a Visiting Professor; Ph.D from ELTE (1961), then a Candidacy in Linguistic Science from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1967, and a (culminating) Doctorate of Philological Sciences from Leningrad State University in 1975; Diploma of honor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia (2015); The Golden Medal of Indiana University for Altaistic Studies (2011), Order of Labor Merit of the Republic of Mongolia (2005); Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, (1999); Order of the Polar Star of the Republic of Mongolia, (1998); Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Online tribute from faculty, students, and scholars is found here.

İlhan Başgöz (1921-2021)

Professor Emeritus of Central Eurasian Studies, Near Eastern Language and Cultures, and Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology; Born in Gemerek, Turkey in 1921; Came to IUB in 1965;  Ph.D in Folklore University of Ankara, 1949; Guggenheim Fellow 1973, elected a fellow of the American Folklore Society (1983), received a Distinguished Service Certificate from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey (1999), received a Gold Medal of Distinguished Literary and Scholarly Achievement from the Association of Turkish Writers (Edebiyatcilar Birligi) (1996), and received a Gold Medal for Nasreddin Hoca Research from the Nasreddin Hoca Society in Turkey (1999). In 2019, Başgöz received Indiana University's Bicentennial Medal, in recognition of distinguished contributions to the university.

Elliot Sperling (1951-2017)

Associate Professor Emeritus; Two terms as CEUS Chair; One of the world's leading historians of Tibet and Tibet-China relations and an advocate for human rights; MacArthur Fellowship 1984-1989; Came to IU as a student then returned to IU in 1987 as a faculty member; His research-based predominantly on original, primary sources in Tibetan and Chinese; His biography as it appeared in the 2015 Retired Faculty Official Biographies Sperling Biography.

Gustav Bayerle (1931-2016)

Professor Emeritus; Turkish Ottoman Empire and early Hungarian history; Born in Budapest, Hungary leaving 1956; BA, University of Rochester in 1960; Ph.D Columbia University 1966; Came to IUB in 1966; Department chair for 10 years; Served as director of the IU Institute of Hungarian Studies, president and editor of the Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, and secretary for the American Research Institute in Turkey.

Yuri Bregel (1925-2016)

Professor Emeritus; Central Asian History & Historiography, Chagatai & Persian manuscript studies; Born in Moscow, left USSR in 1974; Ph.D., Institute of ORiental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1961; Came to IUB in 1981; Director, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1986-1997; Director, IAUNRC, 1989-1997 Editor-In-Chief Emeritus, Papers on Inner Asia.

Mihaly Szegedy-Maszak (1943-2016)

Professor Emeritus; Professor of Comparative Literature at both Indiana University and Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary; MA, English from Eötvös Loránd University in 1966; Ph.D. 1967; Came to IUB 1991; Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Various committees include Coordinating Committee of the International Comparative Literary Society, Executive Committee of the International Hungarian Philology Society, and Hungarian National Committee for UNESCO; Széchenyi Prize in 2003 and awarded the Hungarian Cross of Merit in 1997.

Denis Sinor (1916-2011)

Distinguished Professor Emeritus; Central Eurasian Studies; Born in Kolozsvar, left Hungary in 1939; BA, University of Budapest, 1938; MA, Cambridge University, 1948; Came to IUB in 1962; Was chair when the program became a department; Denis Sinor Prize is awarded annually for the best paper submitted by an IU student in a CEUS.

Thubten Norbu (1922-2008)

Born in Taktser, Tibet; Came to IU 1965; Tibetan language and courses relating to Tibet; Taught at Honganji Temple in Tokyo, Japan, University of Washington, Seattle and was an assistant curator at the Museum of National History in New York before coming to IU; BA, Kumbum Monastery, Northeastern Tibet in 1939, Ph.D Drepung Monastery, Lhasa Tibet in 1046; Founded the Tibetan Cultural Center, now the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, in Bloomington, IN.

Alo Raun (1905-2004)

Professor Emeritus; Finno-Ugric linguistics; Born in Tartu, left Estonia in 1944; MA & Ph.D., Tartu University, 1931 & 1942; Came to IUB in 1951 on a Guggenheim Fellowship, then taught here from 1952-1975; Alo Raun Prize rewards student excellence in Estonian and/or Finnish studies.

Felix Oinas (1911-2004)

Professor Emeritus; Balto-Finnic & Slavic folklore, Finno-Ugric literature & linguistics; Born in Tartu, left Estonia in 1944; MA, Tartu University, 1938, Ph.D., Indiana University, 1952; Came to IUB in 1950 as a student; Taught in the Program & subsequently the Department of Uralic Studies & Altaic Studies.

Thomas Sebeok (1920-2001)

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Semiotics, Uralic & Altaic Studies Born in Budapest, left Hungary in 1936 BA, University of Chicago, 1941; MA & Ph.D., Princeton University, 1943 & 1945 Came to IUB in 1943 to the country's largest Army Specialized Training Program in foreign languages, a program he later directed Submitted federal grant proposals for the Uralic and Altaic Language & Area Center.

György Ránki (1930-1988)

Professor, the first holder of the Hungarian Chair; At IUB 1980-1988; Ránki focused on Hungarian and Central European economic history in the 19th and 20th centuries, foreign policy and economics, aspects of the Holocaust, and Worl War II history; Erzsebet and Zsuzsanna Ránki establish a scholarship in Hamilton Lugar School.