By Katy Harriger, Professor of Politics and International Affairs and F. Michael Crowley Distinguished Faculty Fellow, and Peter Siavelis, Professor of Politics and International Affairs
Helga Welsh joined the Politics and International Affairs Department in 1993, after having taught at the University of South Carolina and the University of Arizona. Throughout her career, her research and teaching expertise has been European politics, with a particular interest in post-Communist states and transitions to democracy. Her department chair, Michaelle Browers, says that “Helga is a colleague with an impressive commitment to all aspects of her profession and a powerful model of the teacher-scholar ideal.” She is beloved by generations of students for her passion for her subject and her genuine concern for their well-being, recognized for her important and insightful scholarship on post-Communist Europe, and appreciated for her leadership and commitment to service on countless departmental and university committees. She will be missed. As her long-time colleague and office neighbor Katy Harriger notes, “It is difficult to imagine the department without her.” Nonetheless, her students and colleagues alike wish for her a happy retirement where she has more time to indulge her love for reading, travel, and of course, German sweets.
The full tribute can be found here.
