In 2015 the SLS established a fund in memory of Charles E. Townsend (1932–2015).

Townsend received his Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard in 1961 and taught there for five years before coming to Princeton, where he chaired the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures for 32 consecutive years, until his retirement in 2002. Over his academic career, Townsend published nine books and innumerable articles, with special focus on Russian morphology, Spoken Prague Czech, and comparative analysis of Slavic languages. He was also regular visiting professor of Russian at Indiana University’s summer language workshop. Townsend taught linguistics, Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, and Polish, was a tireless mentor to his many students, and helped to found the International Association of Teachers of Czech.

The purpose of the Charles E. Townsend Memorial Fund is to honor and perpetuate his memory by recognizing young contributors to the field of Slavic linguistics.

Administration of the Fund

The award itself is a lifetime membership. Eligibility is limited to all those who presented at either of the previous two annual meetings and who were graduate students at the time. (Any individual who defended during the calendar year of his/her SLS talk will be considered a graduate student for the purposes of this award.) The awardee is selected by the officers of the SLS, consisting of all members of the Executive Board plus the Webmaster, Treasurer, and Journal Editor.

Previous Awardees and Honorable Mentions

• Maša Bešlin (2022)
  • Honorable mention:
  •  Niyaz Kireyev
• Ðorđe Božović (2021)
  • Honorable mentions:
  • Maša Bešlin
  • Ivana Jovović
  • Yūsuke Ōyama
• Jelena Živojinović (2020)
  • Honorable mentions:
  • Maša Bešlin
  • Đorđe Božović
  • Florian Wandl
• Marco Biasio (2019)
• Andrija Petrović (2018)
• Marek Majer (2017)
• Vesela Simeonova (2016)
• Roman Ronko (2015)

Donate to the Fund

Awards from the Charles E. Townsend Memorial Fund are made possible by donations. Please consider giving to this fund.