Ethnic Heritage Society to honor ex-YSU professor

LIBERTY

The Ethnic Heritage Society will sponsor a program on the Italian American heritage of Youngstown’s Brier Hill neighborhood at 10 a.m. June 23 at Kravitz’s Delicatessen, 3135 Belmont Ave. A presentation to honor former Youngstown State University professor Dr. Sherry Linkon will follow.

Brier Hill natives Fred and Josephine Ross will share their stories and link them to the larger history of Youngstown’s most celebrated working-class district.

In 2000 Dr. Linkon and her husband, Dr. John Russo, interviewed the Rosses for their book “Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown.” The Rosses were more recently featured on the Steel Valley Voices website, an online ethnic archive Linkon spearheaded as co-director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at YSU.

Linkon, a longtime YSU faculty member, recently accepted a position at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. As part of the June 23 program she will be recognized for her continual efforts to highlight the community’s diversity. The award will be presented by the Rev. Joseph Rudjak, EHS president; Dr. George Beelen, treasurer; and Richard S. Scarsella, who chaired the committee.

The Steel Valley Voices project, which represents more than 25 local ethnic and racial groups, will be housed at Youngstown’s Historical Center of Industry and Labor. The YSU Department of History will oversee the online project.

The event is free and open to the public and will include coffee and bagels. For information call Tom Welsh at 330-792-7936 or Sandra Cika at 202-297-0362.