Frisch to Head National American Studies Association

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Michael Frisch, professor of history and American studies at the University at Buffalo, has been elected president-elect of the American Studies Association (ASA). Frisch will serve as president-elect from July 1999 through June 2000, when he will begin a two-year term as president.

With 5,000 members nationwide, the ASA is one the largest and most broad-based membership organization in the field of American studies.

It represents the interests of 261 programs and departments of American studies in colleges and universities across the country, as well as those of member foundations, societies, museums and other institutions. The ASA publishes journals, directories and curricula; develops interactive resources and programs of instruction for students from elementary through graduate school, and presents annual awards.

From a background in U.S. urban-social history, Frisch has published groundbreaking work in oral history theory and practice, and in the history of urban political economy. He is the former editor of Oral History Review, the author of "Portraits in Steel" (1993), a book linking Frisch's historical portraits with those by renowned documentary photographer Milton Rogovin; "A Shared Authority" (1990), essays on public and oral history; "Town Into City" (1972) and "Working-Class America" (1983).

Frisch is a former Fulbright Professor in American Studies at the University of Venice, headed the Rockefeller Humanities Institute at UB and is deeply involved in projects related to industrial heritage, oral history and the 100th anniversary celebration of the Pan American Exposition, which was held in Buffalo in 1901.