Dr. Jenkins, Director of the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies since July 2001, joined the program in 1999 as Adminstrative Director for Curricula, with primary responsibilities for coordinating the MA and BA degree programs.  His scholarly interests are in the areas of social and political change, civil society and the nonprofit sector, and education.

He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987. Prior to joining the Center he was an independent consultant and researcher as well as a professor at Yale University. Dr. Jenkins has traveled widely through Eastern Europe and has lived in Budapest, which holds a special place in his heart. (Favorite vistas are below!)
 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
 

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE BALKANS:  FOCUS ON THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

In summers 2002, 2003, and 2005, Dr. Jenkins led a Burch Field Research Seminar in Vienna, Austria.  In 2007 the seminar will again be repeated (details here).

• examined the role and activities of OSCE in regional security issues,
• researched organizational differences between OSCE headquarters and field offices,
• explored the relationships between OSCE and other international organizations in the Balkans.

The seminar offered students with opportunities for interaction with key personnel at OSCE and other international organizations and will include a field trip to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH).
 
 

"EDUCATIONAL REFORM PROCESSES IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND CROATIA: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, LOCAL POLITICS, AND MINORITY RIGHTS."

Funded by the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER), this project investigates the implementation of minority rights in education in BiH and Croatia in the context of state building efforts by both domestic and international actors.  A report on the research should be available in early December 2006.
 

COURSES
 

• RUES/POLI/PWAD/SOCI 260 (formerly RUES 60), "Crisis and Change in Russia and Eastern Europe."  Draws on historical, political, economic, and sociological perspectives to analyze social, cultural, and institutional change.  -- link to Fall 2006 syllabus

 
• RUES/PWAD 469 (formerly RUES/PWAD 168), "Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention in the former Yugoslavia."  A discussion and lecture course focusing on nationalism and state building projects, ethnic conflict, and international intervention. -- link to Spring 2006 syllabus

 
• RUES 710, "Core Colloquium."  An introductory course for first year MA students providing an overview of the research process at UNC-CH and introductory lectures by affiliated faculty.

• RUES 730 (formerly RUES 230), "Identities and Transitions." An interdisciplinary course focusing on the variety of problems encountered by the East European countries and the successor states of the former Soviet Union in the transition from communism to democracy.  Capstone course for the MA in Russian and East European Studies (RUES).   -- link to Fall 2004 syllabus

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

He has published on the growth of the Hungarian nonprofit sector, social and political movements in Eastern Europe, and labor markets and careers in Hungary. He is particularly interested in higher education reform and governance.

Among recent publications and presentations are

• "Labor Markets and Economic Transition in Post-Communist Europe." 2001. In Sourcebook on Labor Markets: Evolving Structures and Processes, Ivar Berg and Arne Kalleberg, eds. Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
• "The Post-communist Welfare State and the Role of the Nonprofit Sector in Hungary and Romania" (with Livia Popescu and Richard L. Edwards).  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Associations (ARNOVA), Miami, Florida, November 2001.
• "1940 Census." 2000. In Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census, Margo J. Anderson, ed. CQ Press.
• "Understanding Nonprofit Research and Practice in a New Democracy: the Hungarian Case." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Associations (ARNOVA) Arlington, Virginia, November 1999.
• "The Role of the Hungarian Nonprofit Sector in Postcommunist Social Policy." 1999. In Left Parties and Social Policy in Postcommunist Europe, Linda J. Cook, Mitchell A. Orenstein, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds. Westview Press.
• "The Role of the Hungarian Nonprofit Sector in Postcommunist Society," presented at the East European Studies Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., February 1999.

GUEST LECTURES

Dr. Jenkins makes occasional guest lectures in course and at outside events.  To see his Fall 2005 lecture to Dr. Laura Janda's course, "Language and National Identity" (SLAV 167/PWAD 167).  The lecture in Powerpoint is "Interaction of Hungarian and Other Ethno-Linguistic Groups."

CONSULTING

As a consultant he has worked with international and East European organizations in the areas of education reform and development of the nonprofit (nongovernmental) sector throughout the region. Major projects on which he has worked include

• Senior Consultant to Civic Education Project on the Regional Needs Assessment Project, a study of the reform of social science higher education in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine; 1995-1997.
• Member of the Higher Education Development Programs Board of the Hungarian Ministry of Education; 1997-1999.
• Evaluator for International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) program for Social Science Curriculum Development at selected universities in Hungary, Poland, and Romani; 1997-2000.
• Consultant to ACLS on its Constitutionalism Project in Central Europe, a program training secondary school teachers about teaching constitutionalism and civic education in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia; 1998-2000.

From 1996 to 2001, Dr. Jenkins regularly contributed an analysis of political and economic trends in Hungary to the Economist Intelligence Unit of London.
 
 

PERSONAL

In his leisure time, he enjoys travel, a variety of sports, coaching youth soccer and basketball, and his family.
 
 

CONTACT

Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 5125, 223 E. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-5125

Phone: 919-962-0901
Fax: 919-962-2494
Email: rjenkins@email.unc.edu
 

Contact Dr. Jenkins via email.
 
 

Scenes of Budapest

Left: Gellert Hill viewed from the south. Right: Chain Bridge with Castle Hill behind.

Above: Parliament on the banks of the Danube.

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