Media Advisory

TO:                    News Directors and Features Editors

SUBJECT:           Dr. James Cox, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
                              Veniaminov Bicentennial Program Representative

LOCATION:         UAF Development Office, 3rd Floor Signers' Hall

DATE & TIME:     9 - 10 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1996

Plans are underway worldwide to commemorate the birth 200 years ago of Russian Orthodox priest Ioann Veniaminov-Popov, a pioneer in the study of Alaska's Aleut, Alutiq, Tlingit, Yup'ik and Athabaskan languages. Veniaminov is acknowledged worldwide as an educator, scholar, ethnographer and linguist. He developed the first written form of language for Natives in Alaska and the Russian Republic of Yakutia, widely used by both groups until the 20th century. He also established a bilingual and bicultural educational system in Alaska and Eastern Siberia which was open to all.

Veniaminov Bicentennial celebrations are scheduled to take place next year in the U.S., Russia, Greece, England and Scotland. James Cox, a member of the international committee sponsoring bicentennial events, will be in Fairbanks Aug. 6. He will be available for media interviews at 9 a.m., 325 Signers' Hall.

Cox, with the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the non-Western World at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, is the author of "The Impact of Christian Missions on Indigenous Cultures: The Real People and the Unreal Gospel," a book about mission education in Alaska. Cox will be in Fairbanks to meet with Alaska Veniaminov Bicentennial coordinator Lydia Black, UAF professor of anthropology.

TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS, CONTACT: UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron, (907) 474-7122.

DPD/8-1-96/97-008med.adv.