Violeta Kelertienė

Garbės daktarė / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 2012-06-27)

Prof. Dr. Violeta Kelertienė is a Lithuanian diaspora scientist and researcher of Lithuanian literature, who has been collaborating with the education institutions of the Baltic countries since the very beginning of her academic career.  During her visits in Lithuania, the professor gives lectures at VMU and other universities.

Prof. Kelertienė has been working at the Dept. of Lithuanian Studies in the University of Illinois since 1984, serving as its head in 1993–2008.  During this period, the Dept. of Lithuanian Studies welcomed many students from higher schools of Lithuania to MA and doctoral programs as well as the interns who worked on scientific projects and dissertations.

From 1999 to 2011, Prof. Kelertienė was the editor of the academic journal Lituanus published in English. The professor is a member of numerous Lithuanian scientific and cultural editorial boards. She is also actively involved in the activities of the World Lithuanian Studies Association as well as the conferences of Santara-Šviesa organization.

Prof. Kelertienė was among the first to start applying post-colonialist theory in her work. In 2006, she compiled and published a collection of articles called Baltic Postcolonialism, which featured works on Lithuanian culture and literature written by Lithuanian scholars. In 2006, a collection of articles of literary criticism Kita vertus by Prof. Kelertienė was published in Lithuania. In 2010, she received the award from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania, which is granted for Lithuanians living abroad.