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The core of Tiina Ann Kirss’s academic activities has been carried out in
Northern American universities (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Wesleyan
College; Mercer University; and University of Toronto). She defended her
doctoral thesis at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her dissertation
focused on the comparison of Estonian literature in the 20th century
(Kross, Luik, Rummo, and Alliksaar) to texts of European literature
(Jünger, Coetzee, C. Wolf, Mrožek, Ionesco, etc.). Subsequently, Tiina
Ann Kirss proceeded to work in the Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences
of Mercer University, developing the curricula of women’s history and
literary studies as well as gender studies theory. Subsequently, she worked
at the University of Toronto, where her main area of research was the
collection of Estonian life stories and interdisciplinary analysis of
biographic material. In the period of 2000-2006 Kirss developed cooperation
with the researchers of the Estonian Literary Museum and University of
Tartu through seminars, conferences and articles. The centre of these
research activities was deportation of Estonians to Siberia, and the
perspectives of gender research and the construction of ethical frameworks
in the analysis of life stories. Tiina Ann Kirss’s biographical articles
of the last seven years mostly deal with trauma as a theoretical paradigm,
“contested memory”, memory cohorts (WWII participants, Diaspora,
war-period children, people deported to Siberia), narrativity, dialectics
of memory and history, gender aspects in the agency of biography writers,
and landscapes remembered. Since 2006 Tiina Ann Kirss holds the position of
professor of Estonian literature at the University of Tartu, while also
giving English lectures in Estonian literature in the European context in
the Baltic Studies programme of the University of Tartu. Her current
research topic is a monograph of Jaan Kross. Tiina Ann Kirss will assume
the position of professor of cultural theory at Tallinn University
effective of September 1st, 2010.  Anna Verschik works at Tallinn
University since 2002, since 2006 as professor of Estonian as a foreign
language and sociolinguistics. She has also held a number of visiting
lectures and courses in Vilnius, Helsinki, Bloomington, Uppsala, Riga, etc.
on the subjects of the principles of linguistics, language variation,
sociolinguistics, language policy and contact linguistics. Anna Verschik
has organised thematic schools for MA and PhD students, often in
cooperation with the University of Tartu and LANGNET, a Finnish doctoral
network of language studies. During 2003-2008, Anna Verschik was the head
of the Doctoral School of Humanities, and she is currently the head of the
linguistics section of the Baltic Graduate School. Being the head of four
curricula in the Institute of Estonian Language and Culture, she has
significantly contributed to the programmes of TU Institute of Estonian
Language and Culture and Catherine’s College. Anna Verschik’s research
activities and publications mostly deal with bilingualism, code switching,
convergence and language contacts. She has been/is part of eight research
projects and has organised a number of various research events. She also
participates in the operations of several research associations, councils
and editorial boards (such as the Advisory Board of Mouton Applied
Linguistic Review, Estonian Language Council). Anna Verschik has been the
supervisor of one PhD thesis and four MA theses, and she is currently the
supervisor of five PhD theses, two of which in foreign universities
(Helsinki and Utrecht). Anna Verschik will assume the position of professor
of general linguistics effective of September 1st, 2010.During 1978-1989,
Erik Terk worked in the Estonian Management Institute as a lecturer of
management decision making, applied systems analysis and strategy. He
proceeded to lecture on various training courses and in universities (EBS,
University of Tartu, and Tallinn University). At Tallinn University, he has
lectured mostly on the general problems of economic development, strategy
development and future studies. In 1992, Mr. Terk began to run the Estonian
Institute of Future Studies, being involved in the preparation of various
future studies, forecasts, scenarios, strategic analyses, including
strategic documents such as Sustainable Estonia, Estonia 2010, the basis
document for the Estonian spatial development, long-term development
strategy for Tallinn, development scenarios for Harjumaa, integration
scenarios of Tallinn and Helsinki, development scenarios of the Baltic Sea
region, etc. Erik Terk is a member of the editorial board of European
Planning Studies and a member of the governing council of the International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He also participates in the network
dealing with the methods and methodology of European future monitoring,
establishing international contacts for the future researchers and
researchers dealing with strategies of regional development. Erik Terk will
assume the position of professor of future studies and strategic management
effective of September 1st, 2010.Leida Talts has worked in Tallinn
University since 1974. Until 1976 she worked as a senior instructor, from
1980 as an associate professor and from 1997 as a professor. In 1976 Leida
Talts became the Chair of Elementary Instruction, making her head the unit
of class teacher instruction for 34 years now. Her main areas of research
have been the professional development of teachers, values education of
students, child’s educational environment and the issues of
multiculturalism. She has led research seminars for MA and PhD students and
held various courses in the teacher training programme. In the period of
1997-2010, more than a hundred MA theses and three PhD theses have been
defended under her supervision. Leida Talts is currently the supervisor of
seven PhD theses. She has been awarded with a number of research awards and
diplomas for her successful participation in national competitions of
educational science (1997, 1998, 2005), and she has also been awarded the
best publication in social sciences in a foreign language (in 2003). She
has been honourably mentioned repeatedly as a supervisor of student works.
Leida Talts will be appointed professor emeritus effective of September
1st, 2010.