Dr. Irwin Weil

Dr. Irwin Weil

Dr. Irwin Weil is American Councils’ inaugural Trustee Emeritus and a Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University where he taught courses in Russian language, literature, and music for 56 years. Dr. Weil, together with Dr. Dan E. Davidson, was one of the Founders of the American Councils for Teachers of Russian, a predecessor to American Councils for International Education. In 1966, he served as the American representative at the Paris conference where the International Association of Teachers of Russian and Russian Literature (MAPRIAL) was started. Many scholars and seminars were organized to bring about closer relations on both sides. Dr. Weil worked for three years under the demographer, Evgenij Mikhailovich Kulischer, who made widely the accepted calculation of population losses during World War II. At the Library of Congress, Dr. Weil worked on the project to create an accurate census for the USSR in the early 1950s.

Dr. Weil started teaching at Harvard University, continued at Brandeis University, and came to Northwestern University in January 1966. By that time, he had been traveling and working in the USSR for six years, already laying the foundation for his future work in USA-USSR/Russia relations. Since 1960, he has been a constant visitor to the USSR/Russia. Together with Russian colleague, Professor Marina Kaul, Dr. Weil founded the Moscow University Center for the Study of the American Reality, an American Studies Center. With the cooperation of many Russian and American specialists from many different institutions, it promises to bring a unique light to the work of American specialists in both countries. The aim of the Center is to give students and colleagues in both countries the chance to study the United States objectively and without propaganda. Dr. Weil received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and his PhD from Harvard University.