Meet ALBA’s New Chair & Officers
At its May annual meeting, the ALBA Board elected new officers (see full list below), along with a new Chair, Prof. Fraser Ottanelli:
“My formative experiences took place in Italy within a political culture deeply shaped by the values of international solidarity, social justice, and antifascism that motivated the women and men of the International Brigades. One of my first “political” memories is marching with my parents to protest the execution of the Spanish Communist leader Julián Grimau in Madrid in 1963. Thirteen years later in Florence, on the occasion of the commemoration of 40th anniversary of the onset of the Spanish Civil War, I met and served as an unofficial guide for my first Lincoln vets: Steve Nelson, Hy Wallach, John Rossen, and Julius Deutsch. The stories of the women and men of the International Brigades in Spain have inspired me both as an activist and academic. I am currently a professor of US history at the University of South Florida where I teach and publish on topics related to radicalism, migration, and ethnicity along with human rights. I have been a member of the ALBA board since the mid-1990s.”
ALBA Board of Governors: Officers
Fraser Ottanelli, Chair
James D. Fernandez, Vice-Chair
Gina Herrmann, Vice-Chair
Ellyn Polshek, Vice-Chair
Joan Levenson Cohen, Treasurer
Aaron Retish, Secretary
Peter N. Carroll, Chair Emeritus
Sebastiaan Faber, Chair Emeritus
