The Ateneo de Manila University (), simply Ateneo de Manila or Ateneo, is a private, Catholic research university and  basic education institution in Quezon City, Philippines. Founded in 1859 by the Jesuits, it is the second-oldest Jesuit-administered institution of higher learning in the Asia-Pacific.

Considered one of the top universities in the Philippines, the university provides primary and secondary education as well as undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and business. It offers professional degrees through the Graduate School of Business, the School of Government, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Ateneo Law School. Known for its Jesuit liberal arts tradition, the humanities are a key feature of Ateneo education at all levels of study.

History

On September 25, 1969, Fr. Pacifico Ortiz, SJ was installed as the first Filipino president of the Ateneo de Manila University. At this time, the Graduate School split into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and what would become the Graduate School of Business. In 1968, the Ateneo co-founded the Asian Institute of Management. The Ateneo college opened its doors to its first female students in 1973. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences moved to Loyola Heights in 1976, and the Padre Faura campus closed in 1977 as the Graduate School of Business and the Law School moved to Salcedo Village, Makati. In February 1978, Ateneo opened what would become the Ateneo Computer Technology Center.

As student activism rose in the 1970s following the proclamation of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, Ateneans took an active role along with student organizations from other colleges and universities. On February 11, 1986, alumnus and Antique Governor Evelio Javier was shot and killed. Two weeks later, Ateneans joined thousands of Filipinos in the People Power Revolution along EDSA to oust Marcos.

In 1991, the School of Law became the first law school in the Philippines to confer the Juris Doctor degree. The Ateneo School of Government was established in 1996 and, in 1998, a campus housing the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Ateneo School of Law, and the Ateneo School of Government, opened in Rockwell Center in Poblacion, Makati. The Science Education Complex was also completed in the Loyola Heights campus. In 2000, the School of Arts and Sciences, consisting of the undergraduate and graduate schools, was restructured into the Loyola Schools. In April 2002, the office of the university president established Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines, one of the university's outreach initiatives, with the help of the Ford and Synergeia Foundations. In July 2002, the Church of the Gesù was completed in the Loyola Heights campus. In 2003, the Ateneo entered into its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, its first formal, university-wide social action program.

In July 2006, the Manuel V. Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership was completed. The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health facility in Ortigas Center, Pasig welcomed its first batch of professional students in June 2007. In 2008, work on a new Rizal Library facility began and a new set of university dormitories was inaugurated.

On July 24, 2022, a former mayor of Lamitan, Basilan, and two others were killed. As a result, the scheduled graduation ceremonies of the university's law school were cancelled.

Campuses
Currently, the main Ateneo de Manila campus is located along Katipunan Avenue in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Metro Manila. The campus houses the college and the university's grade school and high schools, as well as the Loyola School of Theology. Two other campuses, in Rockwell Center and Salcedo Village, both in Makati, house the university's graduate schools of business, and law. A fourth facility in the Don Eugenio López Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig, houses its school of medicine and public health.

Loyola Heights

The  main campus is located in Loyola Heights, along the eastern side of Katipunan Avenue, and is south of and adjacent to the campus of Miriam College. The Grade School, High School, and College are located in the Ateneo's Loyola Heights campus. Beside the Grade School is the Henry Lee Irwin Theater, built in 1995 to house the school's formal events and productions. Complementing the old college buildings are the Science Education Complex, as well as the PLDT Convergent Technologies Center and the John Gokongwei School of Management Complex. In 2018, the university inaugurated the Areté, the Ateneo's "creative hub" for visual, practical, and performing arts. The Areté houses the Ateneo Art Gallery, the Hyundai Hall (a 900-seat theater), the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Black Box Theater, the Unionbank Ubuntu Space, and spaces for the Ateneo's collaborative degree program with Le Cordon Bleu. The Department of Fine Arts and the Ateneo Institute for the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching also hold office in the Areté.

Within the campus is the Rizal Library, the main university library. Also located here are numerous units and research centers affiliated with the Ateneo, such as the Institute of Social Order, Institute of Philippine Culture, Institute on Church and Social Issues, Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowships, the Jesuit Communications Foundation, the Jesuit Basic Education Commission, and others. Also situated here are the East Asian Pastoral Institute, Loyola School of Theology, and the San Jose Seminary, all Jesuit formation institutions federated with the Ateneo de Manila University. The Loyola Heights campus also hosts three scientific research institutions: the Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the National Chemistry Instrumentation Center, and the Manila Observatory.

Its athletic facilities include the Blue Eagle Gym, also known as the Loyola Center, standing at the southern end of the campus, and the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center (MLSC) on the northern end. The Blue Eagle Gym is one of the largest gymnasiums among the universities in Metro Manila while the MLSC is often used by the Philippines men's national basketball team as well as other professional teams for their training needs.

The Church of the Gesù, completed in July 2002, stands on top of the Sacred Heart Hill and overlooks the rest of the campus. The school's chapels include the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel and the Chapel of the First Companions in the high school, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the college complex's Gonzaga Hall, the chapel at the Loyola House of Studies, and the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels in the grade school, among others. Two parish churches outside the campus, the Our Lady of Pentecost Parish in Varsity Hills and the Santa María della Strada Parish in Diliman, are within walking distance from the campus.

The Ateneo de Manila is also home to the largest Jesuit community in the Philippines, most of whom reside at the Jesuit Residence in the Loyola Heights campus. These Jesuits are involved in teaching, administration, and research within the university and its affiliated units.

The Ateneo de Manila University established the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability in 2013 to oversee the research and implementation of the university's sustainable development initiatives. In 2014, the Ateneo launched an electric jeepney shuttle system operated by Meralco within its Loyola Heights campus to replace motorized tricycles as the means of transporting students and personnel around the campus; the Ateneo was the first educational institution in the Philippines to implement an electric jeepney transportation system.

Satellite campuses

The Rockwell Center campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Makati houses the School of Law, Graduate School of Business, AGSB-BAP Institute of Banking, and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education. It includes several research centers, a moot court facility, and the Ateneo Professional Schools Library.

The Salcedo Village campus in Makati houses the different facilities of the former Ateneo Information Technology Institute and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education. This facility formerly housed the Professional Schools prior to the completion of the Rockwell campus in 1998.

The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) at the Don Eugenio López Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig, opened its doors to its pioneering batch of students in June 2007. Beside the ASMPH is its partner hospital, The Medical City.

Ateneo Blue Cloud
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Ateneo de Manila University launched the Ateneo Blue Cloud (stylized AteneoBlueCloud), an online platform for the university's scholarly community. Branded as the university's "virtual campus", the Ateneo Blue Cloud hosts school curricula materials based around their framework of an "adaptive design for learning", wherein online, blended, and face-to-face educational programs are accessible by registered users.

Administration and organization

The Ateneo de Manila University is governed by a board of trustees currently chaired by Bernadine T. Siy. A central administration, led by President of the Ateneo de Manila University Roberto Yap, oversees key initiatives related to academics, international programs, university development and alumni relations, personnel, security, and other university-wide concerns. Yap succeeded Jose Ramon Villarin, on August 1, 2020.

There are also designated vice presidents for Social Development (overseeing social initiatives); University and Global Relations (overseeing internationalization and institutional linkages); Finance (who also acts as the University Treasurer); and Administration & Human Resources.

The Ateneo de Manila has been granted autonomous status by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) since 2001, granting it relative leeway in introducing new programs. It is one of few universities in the country to be granted this status, which recognizes a number of the university's programs and departments as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development.

The university is organized into twelve schools, grouped into two units: the higher education units, and the basic education unit. Each unit is led by a vice president. Each basic education school is led by a principal (JHS and SHS) and a headmaster (grade school); meanwhile, the individual schools under the higher education unit are led by deans, who in turn oversee department chairs and program directors.

Higher education
Ateneo de Manila University's higher education unit consists of nine schools. These are the School of Humanities (SOH); the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM); the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE); the School of Social Sciences (SOSS); the Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design(GBSEALD); the Graduate School of Business, which confers the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master in Entrepreneurship degrees; the Ateneo School of Law, which confers the Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPh), which offers an integrated Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) - MBA program, and the Ateneo School of Government, which confers the Master in Public Management and Ph.D. in Leadership Studies degrees.

The Ateneo de Manila University higher education unit was created by consolidating two existing units: the Loyola Schools, which comprised most of the schools in the Loyola Heights campus offering undergraduate programs; and the Professional Schools, which offered graduate programs and, with the exception of the Ateneo School of Government, were based in the university's satellite campuses in Rockwell the and Ortigas Center.

Basic education

The Ateneo de Manila Grade School (AGS) is the elementary education unit of the Ateneo de Manila University, and is the oldest unit in existence - Ateneo de Manila began as a government-run primary school during the Spanish colonial period. It is an all-boys school with a population of around 4,000 students. The school had implemented the K-12 program since the 2013–14 academic year. The Ateneo de Manila Grade School is one of the first elementary schools in the Philippines to adopt the Singapore math curriculum.

The Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) is the middle school unit of the Ateneo de Manila University, offering the seventh to tenth grades for male students. It was established in 2013 to comply with the Philippines' K-12 education system. It currently occupies the old Ateneo de Manila High School campus.

The Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) is the senior high school unit of the Ateneo de Manila University, offering the eleventh and twelfth grades since 2013 following the restructuring of the university's high school units in adherence with the national K-12 program. Since the 2016–17 academic year, the ASHS has accepted female students.

The ASHS offers all four academic strands of the K-12 program (Accountancy and Business Management; Humanities and Social Sciences; Science and Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; and the General Academic). The ASHS currently occupies the new senior high school building topped off in 2016.

Loyola School of Theology
The Loyola School of Theology is a Jesuit school of theology and pastoral studies, run separately from but federated with the Ateneo de Manila University. It is located in the portion of the university's Loyola Heights campus that is geographically within Marikina. The school offers baccalaureate, licentiate, and doctoral ecclesiastical degrees in theology, as well as postgraduate degrees in theological studies, theology, and pastoral ministry from the Ateneo de Manila. It also supports the theology and religious education postgraduate programs of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Humanities's Department of Theology.

Academic profile
The Ateneo offers instruction in the primary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate level. It is a research university that offers 48 undergraduate degrees, 93 graduate degrees, and 11 professional degrees. Dual/joint degree programs are offered within the schools and with other universities as well. Individual schools conduct separate admissions processes; admission into one unit in no way guarantees admission into another unit.

As is common in the Philippines, the primary medium of instruction is English, with a few classes taught in Filipino. Aside from teaching and research, the Ateneo de Manila also engages in social outreach.

A key feature of Ateneo's higher education is a liberal arts undergraduate core curriculum, required for all undergraduates. It includes philosophy, English and Filipino literature, theology, history, various branches of social sciences, and a community service component. Undergraduate programs at Ateneo are aimed at fostering student-centred learning. The Ateneo follows the semester hour system common in American universities. Most classes are held below 40 students and student discussion is encouraged.

Recognition and reputation

The Ateneo is considered to be one of the  most prestigious universities in the Philippines. The Ateneo made its debut in the 2023 edition of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings as the top university in the Philippines, placing it in the 351–400 bracket of its 2023 Global rankings list, and 84th in its Asian rankings list. The university is currently ranked in the 1001–1200 bracket and 84th, respectively. The university also placed in the 101–200 bracket worldwide in the THE Impact Rankings 2022 on the seven criteria of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making it the highest among the Philippine institutions included. The university received an overall score of 83.7 out of 100, placing 48th worldwide in adhering to the clean water and sanitation SDG.

The QS World University Rankings ranked the Ateneo first among private universities and second among all universities in the Philippines in both its World University Rankings and Asia Rankings in 2023.  In the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022, the Ateneo is ranked in the 151–160 bracket worldwide, making it the highest ranked Philippine university in terms of employability.

Ateneo de Manila University is currently ranked fourth in the Philippines by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. The Ateneo currently ranks eighth in the list of top 10 universities in the Philippines by the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR), and third by EduRank in its list of 100 best universities in the Philippines. The Ateneo has yet to appear in any edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

The Commission on Higher Education has designated the Ateneo with 11 Centers of Excellence and 6 Centers of Development. The 11 Centers of Excellence are in Information Technology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, English Literature, Philosophy, Biology, Psychology, Sociology, Business Administration or Management, and Entrepreneurship. The 6 Centers of Development are in Environmental Science, Communication, Electronic Engineering, History, Philippine Literature, and Political Science.

In 2005, the academic programs of Ateneo were granted a Level IV accreditation—the highest possible level—from the CHED through the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). In 2011, it was also granted an Institutional Accreditation by the same body, the first time that both citations were awarded to a university simultaneously.

The Ateneo grade school and high school divisions have both garnered the highest level of accreditation from the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities and the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines, making it one of the top schools in the country for primary and secondary education, as of 2017.

Graduate school rankings
The Legal Education Board has ranked the Ateneo de Manila School of Law as the top law school in the past decade, producing a 7.18% share or 1,794 out of total new lawyers. The school continues to consistently have the highest passing rate for first-time examinees, topping the 2020/2021 and 2022 Bar Examinations. Graduates of the Ateneo Law School have an average grade of 89.2 in the Philippine Bar Examination and the school has produced 23 top notchers in history, the second highest number of bar top notchers.

The Professional Regulation Commission has ranked the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health as the best performing medical school in the Philippines in 2019, as the school had a 100% passing rate in the Philippine Physician Licensure Examination out of 133 examinees.

The Ateneo School of Government has been ranked as one of the top public policy schools and is the only Philippine institution listed in the first-ever ranking of public-policy schools in the Asia-Pacific region. The school was ranked 25th by citation impact factor, with a total of 7 citations scoring 1.17 impact factor.

Eduniversal ranked the Ateneo Graduate School of Business as one of the top business schools in the country, ranking 3rd with 3 Palmes of Excellence in 2021.

Research centers and auxiliary units
Some of the Ateneo de Manila's most active research hubs work in the fields of disaster risk reduction, prevention, and management; public education; human migration; and governance. The university houses several research centers, and has many links with industry partners, government agencies, and research networks. Some research centers, called auxiliary units, are established by the university board of trustees, while others are organized by individual schools or departments.

Ateneo Center for Asian Studies
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development
Ateneo Center for Educational Development
Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching
Ateneo Center for Organisation Research and Development
Ateneo Center for Psychological and Educational Assessment
Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs
Ateneo Family Business Development Center
Ateneo Innovation Center
Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices
Ateneo Java Wireless Competency Center
Ateneo Language Learning Center
Ateneo Macroeconomic Research Unit
Ateneo-PLDT Advanced Network Testbed
Ateneo Research Network for Development
Ateneo Teacher Center
Ateneo de Manila University Press
Ateneo Wellness Center
Center for Communication Research and Technology
Center for Community Services
Eugenio Lopez Jr. Center for Multimedia Communication
Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute
Governor José B. Fernandez Ethics Center for Business and Public Service
Institute of Philippine Culture
Institute of Social Order
Institute for Church and Social Issues
John Gokongwei School of Management Business Accelerator
John Gokongwei School of Management Business Resource Center
Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism
Manila Observatory
National Chemistry Instrumentation Center
Ninoy and Cory Aquino Center for Leadership
Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines
Philippines-Australia Studies Network
Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies

Social initiatives
The Ateneo is involved in numerous civic activities. Social engagement is considered by the university as a key part of education and is integrated into the curricula of all university programs. Social entrepreneurship is also integrated into many of its academic programs.

The Ateneo's social projects include the Ateneo-Mangyan Project for Understanding and Development to help the Mangyan indigenous group from Mindoro, the Bigay Puso and the Christian Service and Involvement Program for grade school students, and the Damay Immersion and Tulong Dunong program for senior high school students. In college, social development is fostered by programs of the Office of Social Concern and Involvement, including house-builds with the poverty alleviation movement Gawad Kalinga and the Ateneo Labor Trials Program tied into junior philosophy classes. Student organizations and offices of Ateneo also operate their own social involvement programs. At the Ateneo Professional Schools, programs and units like the Graduate School of Business' Mulat-Diwa, the Leaders for Health Program, and the Law School's Human Rights Center and Legal Aid programs aim to form leaders. Other Ateneo initiatives include Pathways to Higher Education to help the underprivileged youth and the Ateneo Center for Educational Development which conducts national teacher and principal training programs.

The centerpiece social program of the university is its university-wide social action program in partnership with Gawad Kalinga which has helped build communities and schools in Payatas, Quezon City, in many Nueva Ecija municipalities, and three villages in the Bicol Region. The Ateneo–Gawad Kalinga partnership has also driven Kalinga Luzon, a rehabilitation effort for the victims of Typhoon Nanmadol (Yoyong); GK Youth–Ateneo, one of the largest and most active student social program of the Ateneo; Kalinga Leyte, an ongoing program which aims to provide long-term rehabilitation for the victims of the Southern Leyte landslide and Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), and ongoing reconstruction efforts for typhoon-stricken Bicol.

The Ugat Foundation, an apostolate for grassroots families, is also located at the Ateneo.

International collaboration
The Ateneo has international linkages with several universities, institutions, and organizations, particularly in Asia, Australasia, North and South America, and Europe. Through these cooperative efforts, the university hosts visiting faculty and research fellows from institutions abroad, and in turn, Ateneo faculty members also engage in teaching, research, and study in institutions abroad. International cooperation also includes active student exchange through Philippine immersion programs.

Since 2008, the Global Leadership Program was started for students from three other Catholic Jesuit universities in East Asia aside from the Ateneo: Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, Sogang University in South Korea, and Sophia University in Japan.

The Ateneo has partnered with several international institutions in offering certain degree programs. In 2006, the Ateneo partnered with the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou to establish a Confucius Institute. The institute has since offered Mandarin Chinese courses, a Masters in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language program, and a scholarship grant for students to study in Chinese colleges and universities. In 2018, the Ateneo Department of Information Systems and Computer Science has partnered with the Queen Mary University of London to offer a double master's degree. In 2019, the School of Management ventured with French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu to establish the Le Cordon Bleu Ateneo de Manila Institute at the Areté. The institute offers a bachelor's degree through the John Gokongwei School of Management as well as professional degrees at the Center for Continuing Education at the Graduate School of Business. Other universities that the Ateneo has partnered with to offer joint master's degree programs are the École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers in France, Kyushu University in Japan, Regis University in Denver, and the University of Sydney in Australia.

The Ateneo has also collaborated with the Nippon Foundation and the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica to initiate the Asian Peacebuilders Scholarship program. Under the program, students train to become peacebuilding practitioners for a total of eight months at the Ateneo and nine months at UPEACE, eventually receiving a master's degree in Transdisciplinary and Social Development from the Ateneo Department of Political Science and a Master of Arts degree from UPEACE.

Libraries and museum

The Ateneo de Manila University has several libraries. The university's largest library is the Rizal Library, located in the Loyola Heights campus.

The Rizal Library is divided into the Old Rizal Library and the New Rizal Library. The New Rizal Library, a five-storey building which opened in November 2009, houses the library's circulation section and the Library's technical services facilities.

Ateneo Art Gallery

The Ateneo Art Gallery is housed in the Arts Wing of the Areté.

University Archives
The University Archives are housed in the Old Rizal Library annex building, also known as Faber Hall.

Student life

Housing
Ateneo de Manila's University Residence Halls consist of five separate residential halls: Cervini Hall, Eliazo Hall, the University Dormitory - North Tower, the University Dormitory - South Tower, and the International Residence Hall.

Student organizations
The Ateneo Debate Society, the undergraduate debate organization of the Ateneo, is the highest-ranking debate team in the Philippines and all of Asia, ranking in the top 15 of the World University Debate Rankings since the mid-2000s, peaking at no. 7 in 2012. In 2023, they won their first World Universities Debating Championship title in Madrid, Spain, marking the first time that a Philippine university has won the world's largest international debating tournament, as well as the second Asian university to do so. The organization has also bagged the most number of championships in the United Asian Debating Championships, including previous Asian debating tournaments, with a total of 12 championships.

The Ateneo College Glee Club (ACGC) is the oldest extant university chorale in the Philippines. The ACGC has participated in numerous international choral and choir competitions including the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.

The Ateneo de Manila High School's Dulaang Sibol, which began as the Ateneo High School Dramatics Society in 1955, is the oldest existing theater group in the Philippines.

Notable alumni

See also
 De La Salle University – the Ateneo de Manila University's major college rival
 Ateneo–La Salle rivalry
 Ignatius of Loyola
 List of colleges and universities in Metro Manila
 List of Jesuit educational institutions in the Philippines
 List of Jesuit sites
 Society of Jesus

References

Further reading

External links

Catholic universities and colleges in Metro Manila
Research universities in the Philippines
Universities and colleges in Quezon City
Universities and colleges established in 1859
Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines
Jesuit universities and colleges in the Philippines
University Athletic Association of the Philippines universities
ASEAN University Network
Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia
1859 establishments in the Philippines

Ateneo de Manila University


The HESEG Foundation is a charitable foundation created by Canadians Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman in 2005 to provide scholarships to former lone soldiers (those without family in Israel) who serve in the Israel Defense Forces. HESEG provides money to cover tuition and living expenses for former "lone soldiers" who wish to remain in Israel to study after they've completed their military service.

Approximately 6,000 "lone soldiers" serve in the IDF in any one year. At a ceremony at Sde Dov Air Force Base in 2005 launching the foundation, Schwartz said "I hope that with the help of the Heseg Foundation, we will be able to grant lone soldiers, who have contributed and sacrificed so much for Israel, the chance to grow and enrich themselves academically, and, above all, that their future in Israel will be ensured."

In 2006, HESEG donated 100 mobile air conditioning units to provide relief for residents of northern Israel forced to live in bomb shelters during the Israel-Hezbollah War.

Schwartz and Reisman's role in the foundation has led to a boycott campaign by anti-Occupation activists of the Chapters and Indigo book chain (Chapters/Indigo) as Reisman owns the chains and Schwartz, her husband, serves on the company's board of directors.

Heseg is the Hebrew word for "achievement".

References

External links
HESEG Foundation website
Foundations based in Canada

Israel Defense Forces
Scholarships in Canada

HESEG Foundation


Steve Walsh (20 September 1958 – 3 July 1988) was a British disc jockey. He died on July 3, 1988, in London.

Life and career
Walsh began his radio career at the first soul music pirate radio station, Radio Invicta, alongside his friend, Bob Tomalski. From there he moved on to JFM, a London soul pirate station. Walsh also guested on Dave Brown's soul show once a month on BBC Radio Medway, which later became BBC Radio Kent. He then decided that if he was to further his career he would have to be completely legal, and leave pirate radio. An opportunity came up at the new independent local radio station, County Sound in Guildford.

He returned to London with the launch of Radio London's Soul Night Out. At the same time he was approached by Capital Radio, having covered one Saturday on Greg Edwards's Soul Spectrum when Edwards was ill. This led to six months on Capital Radio with a slot in the small hours of Sunday. The two stations became uneasy about sharing the same DJ, and eventually Walsh went to BBC Radio London to host the Sunday 7-9 pm show, later adding a second slot on Mondays.

Although he made an impact in the radio world, Walsh will be best remembered for his live work in nightclubs. His 1987 version of the Fatback Band's "I Found Lovin'" was archetypal of the genre of 'South London Soul'. Walsh worked with Tony Blackburn to bring soul music to a wider audience, and shortly before his death he co-presented the dance programme Boogie Box on Music Box, alongside Michaela Strachan.

On 29 June 1988, Walsh was injured in a car crash in Ibiza, where he was filming a music video. He returned to London where he underwent surgery on his broken leg, and died of heart failure on 3 July following the surgery, leaving a wife and three children.

Discography

Singles

References

External links

1959 births
1988 deaths
Deaths from congestive heart failure
English radio DJs
English record producers

Steve Walsh (DJ)


The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, formed in 2002. The Collective Security Treaty has its origins in the Soviet Armed Forces, which was replaced in 1992 by the United Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and was then itself replaced by the successor armed forces of the respective independent states.

Similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) establishes that an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. The 2002 CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories are prohibited from joining other military alliances.

Operational procedures
Similar to NATO, the CSTO maintains a Parliamentary Assembly.

CSTO employs a "rotating presidency" system in which the country leading the CSTO alternates every year.

In order to deploy military bases of a third country in the territory of the CSTO member-states, it is necessary to obtain the official consent of all its members.

Activities

Military exercises
The CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organizational cooperation. The largest of such exercises was held in Southern Russia and central Asia in 2011, consisting of more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft.

Peacekeeping force
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) maintains a peacekeeping force that has been deployed to areas of conflict, including Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The force is composed of troops from member states and is designed to provide stability and security in the region.

On 6 October 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization that would create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy under a United Nations mandate or without one in its member states. The expansion would also allow all members to purchase Russian weapons at the same price as Russia.

In January 2022, the CSTO deployed 2,000 of its peacekeepers to Kazakhstan.

Collective Rapid Reaction Force

On 4 February 2009, an agreement to create the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (KSOR) (Russian: Коллекти́вные си́лы операти́вного реаги́рования (КСОР)) was reached by five of the seven members, with plans finalized on 14 June. The force is intended to be used to repulse military aggression, conduct anti-terrorist operations, fight transnational crime and drug trafficking, and neutralize the effects of natural disasters.

Belarus and Uzbekistan initially refrained from signing on to the agreement. Belarus did so because of a trade dispute with Russia, and Uzbekistan due to general concerns. Belarus signed the agreement the following October, while Uzbekistan has never done so. A source in the Russian delegation said Uzbekistan would not participate in the collective force on a permanent basis but would "delegate" its detachments to take part in operations on an ad hoc basis.

On 3 August 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan criticized plans by Russia to establish a military base in southern Kyrgyzstan for the CSTO rapid reaction force, stating,

History

Foundation

On 15 May 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States — Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed the Collective Security Treaty (also referred to as the Tashkent Pact or Tashkent Treaty). Three other post-Soviet states—Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia—signed in 1993 and the treaty took effect in 1994. The CST was set to last for a 5-year period unless extended. On 2 April 1999, six of the nine—all but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—agreed to renew the treaty for five more years. At the same time, Uzbekistan joined the GUAM group, established in 1997 by Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, and largely seen as intending to counter Russian influence in the region.

The CSTO was founded in 2002 when the six member states agreed to create the Collective Security Treaty Organization as a military alliance. As an attempt to develop a successor alliance to the Warsaw Pact, the CSTO is comparatively weak.

2003 to 2013
In 2004 the CSTO was granted Observer status in the UN General Assembly.

During 2005, the CSTO partners conducted some common military exercises.

Uzbekistan withdrew from GUAM in 2005 and joined the CSTO in 2006 as a full member and its membership was later ratified by the Uzbek parliament on 28 March 2008.

In October 2007, the CSTO signed an agreement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.

On 6 October 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization that would create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy under a U.N. mandate or without one in its member states. The expansion would also allow all members to purchase Russian weapons at the same price as Russia.

On 29 August 2008, Russia announced it would seek CSTO recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Three days earlier, on 26 August, Russia recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In 2009, Belarus boycotted the CSTO summit due to their Milk War with Russia. After refusing to attend a CSTO summit in 2009, Lukashenko said: "Why should my men fight in Kazakhstan? Mothers would ask me why I sent their sons to fight so far from Belarus. For what? For a unified energy market? That is not what lives depend on. No!"

After Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted from office as President of Kyrgyzstan as a result of riots in Kyrgyzstan in April 2010, he was granted asylum in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed doubt about the future of the CSTO for failing to prevent Bakiyev's overthrow, stating: "What sort of organization is this one, if there is bloodshed in one of our member states and an anticonstitutional coup d'état takes place, and this body keeps silent?"

Lukashenko had previously accused Russia of punishing Belarus with economic sanctions after Lukashenko's refusal to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stating: "The economy serves as the basis for our common security. But if Belarus's closest CSTO ally is trying ... to destroy this basis and de facto put the Belarusians on their knees, how can one talk about consolidating collective security in the CSTO space?"

During a trip to Ukraine to extend Russia's lease of the Crimean port Sevastopol in return for discounted natural gas supplies, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was asked about whether Belarus could expect a similar deal and responded: "Real partnership is one thing and a declaration of intentions is another; reaching agreement on working seriously, meeting each other halfway, helping each other is one thing and making decisions about granting permanent residence to people who have lost their job is another." The Belarusian President defended himself against this criticism by citing former Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation of Askar Akayev to Russia after he was ousted as President of Kyrgyzstan during the 2005 Tulip Revolution.

The following month, President Medvedev ordered the CEO of Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom to cut gas supplies to Belarus in a dispute over outstanding debts. Subsequently, the Russian television channel NTV, run by Gazprom, aired a documentary film which compared Lukashenko to Bakiyev. Then the Russian President's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko threatened to publish the transcript of a CSTO meeting where Lukashenko said that his administration would recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence.

In June 2010, ethnic clashes broke out between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, leading interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva to request the assistance of Russian troops to quell the disturbances. Kurmanbek Bakiyev denied charges that his supporters were behind the ethnic conflict and called on the CSTO to intervene. Askar Akayev also called for the CSTO to send troops, saying: "Our priority task right now should be to extinguish this flame of enmity. It is very likely that we will need CSTO peacekeepers to do that." The organisation was considered by some a "paper tiger" since it failed to intervene.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that "only in the case of a foreign intrusion and an attempt to externally seize power can we state that there is an attack against the CSTO", and that, "all the problems of Kyrgyzstan have internal roots", while CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha called the violence "purely a domestic affair". Later, however, Bordyuzha admitted that the CSTO response may have been inadequate and claimed that "foreign mercenaries" provoked the Kyrgyz violence against ethnic Uzbek minorities.

On 21 July 2010, interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva called for the introduction of CSTO police units to southern Kyrgyzstan saying: "I think it's important to introduce CSTO police forces there, since we're unable to guarantee people's rights on our own." She also added: "I'm not seeking the CSTO's embrace and I don't feel like bringing them here to stay but the bloodletting there will continue otherwise." Only weeks later the deputy chairman of Otubayeva's interim Kyrgyz government complained that their appeals for help from the CSTO had been ignored. The CSTO was unable to agree on providing military assistance to Kyrgyzstan at a meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, which was attended by Roza Otunbayeva as well as Alexander Lukashenko.

On 10 December 2010, the member states approved a declaration establishing a CSTO peacekeeping force and a declaration of the CSTO member states, in addition to signing a package of joint documents.

Since 21 December 2011, the Treaty parties can veto the establishment of new foreign military bases in the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

On 28 June 2012, Uzbekistan suspended its membership in the CSTO.

2014 to 2022
In August 2014, 3,000 soldiers from the members of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan participated in psychological and cyber warfare exercises in Kazakhstan under war games managed by CSTO.

On 19 March 2015, the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha offered to send a peacekeeping mission to Donbas, Ukraine. "The CSTO has a peacekeeping capacity. Our peacekeepers continuously undergo corresponding training. If such a decision is taken by the United Nations, we stand ready to provide peacekeeping units".

In July 2021, CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas was criticised by Armenian politicians for calling an incursion by Azerbaijani forces onto Armenian territory a "border incident", where the CSTO remained inactive during the conflict.

In July 2021, Tajikistan appealed to members of CSTO for help in dealing with security challenges emerging from neighboring Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghans, including police and government troops, fled to Tajikistan after Taliban insurgents took control of many parts of Afghanistan.

On 5 January 2022, CSTO peacekeepers were announced to be deployed to Kazakhstan in response to anti-government unrest in the country. On 11 January the same year, CSTO forces began their withdrawal from Kazakhstan.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 there has been no CSTO involvement or official participation of other CSTO members in the conflict.

Deterioration of unity
Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan have deteriorated since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The latter has refused to recognise the Donetsk and the Luhansk People's Republics.

After the start of renewed fighting between Armenia and former member Azerbaijan on 13 September 2022, Armenia triggered Article 4 of the treaty and a CSTO mission, including CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas and Anatoly Sidorov was sent to monitor the situation along the border. A similar event also took place near the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border throughout 2022.

After the CSTO mission took a rather uncommitted position in the conflict, criticism towards CSTO membership inside Armenian political circles increased, with the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan even stating that he saw no more hope for the CSTO. The lack of Russian support during the conflict prompted a national debate in Armenia, as an increasing percentage of the population put into doubt whether it is beneficial to continue CSTO membership, calling for realignment of the state with NATO instead. This coincided with a visit from Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Yerevan on 17 September 2022, largely seen as an effort to reorient the security alliance structure of Armenia.

To discuss the results of the CSTO mission sent on 15 September 2022, an extraordinary session of the CSTO was held via videoconference on 28 October 2022. With the leaders of all member states and CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas in attendance, the meeting was chaired by the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who concurred with the report presented by the Secretary General, while also reiterating the importance for a clear political assessment of Azerbaijani aggression and a roadmap for the restoration of Armenian territorial integrity.

A regular Collective Security Council meeting took place on 23 November 2022 with leaders of all CSTO members being present to discuss matters of international and regional security. After Pashinyan refused to sign the joint declaration, because it did not "reach a decision on a CSTO response to Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia", speculation arose regarding the continuity of the CSTO. Secretary General Stanislas Zas pointed out that numerous measures in the diplomatic as well as military spheres were generally agreed upon, but no consensual assessement of the situation on the border could be reached. On the occasion of the meeting and in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that many in their countries had started to discuss that the CSTO may cease to exist, if Russia loses the war in Ukraine. He later shared his opinion on the matter, stating that the CSTO will continue on and nobody will fall, if there is unity. Meanwhile, during the meeting held in Yerevan, large groups of protestors gathered and called for the withdrawal of Armenia from the CSTO and for the country to develop closer relations with the United States and the West. In the aftermath of the meeting, the US think tank The National Interest released an analysis on the current state of the CSTO and concluded that while the alliance is in a fragile state, only few other nations could fill the void created by a possible Russian exit and step in as a power broker in the region. Economic dependencies between the member states have also increased since the start of the invasion and would dissuade the alliance from splitting up.

The diplomatic friction continued into January 2023, after Pashinyan refused to hold common military drills, because the organisation did not unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan over its perceived aggression. In response, Dmitry Peskov stated that Armenia remains a very close ally and promised to continue the dialogue. To mend their ties, Sergey Lavrov offered the deployment of a CSTO mission along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on 2 February 2023 within one or two days, "if our Armenian allies, friends are still interested in it like before".

In May 2023, after the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia could consider withdrawing from the treaty due to the lack of support from Russia in the conflict. In an interview with CNN broadcast on 1 June 2023, Pashinyan stated that "Armenia is not an ally of Russia in the war in Ukraine".

On 3 September 2023, during an interview, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that it was a strategic mistake for Armenia to solely rely on Russia to guarantee its security. Pashinyan stated, "Moscow has been unable to deliver and is in the process of winding down its role in the wider South Caucasus region" and "the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia's security needs. This example should demonstrate to us that dependence on just one partner in security matters is a strategic mistake." Pashinyan accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to uphold the ceasefire deal of failing to do their job. Pashinyan confirmed that Armenia is trying to diversify its security arrangements, most notably with the European Union and the United States.

During the 2023 Armenian protests that began following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, demonstrators surrounded the Russian embassy in Yerevan criticizing Russia's refusal to intervene in the offensive. Some protesters called for the rejection of the Alma-Ata Protocol, and Armenia's withdrawal from the CSTO.

Armenia declined participating in military exercises and the CIS summit in Kyrgyzstan in October 2023 and asked for Russian peacekeeping forces to return to Russia.

Membership

Member states
 Map showing the CSTO members, observers and associated members. Includes the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied territories in Georgia, and the breakaway Republic of Artsakh and Transnistria.

Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization:

Former member states of CST and CSTO

Non-member observer states in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan were accorded observer status in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in 2013, though the Islamic Republic collapsed in 2021 as the Taliban took over. Also, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia has observer status in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.

Potential membership

In May 2007, the CSTO secretary-general Nikolai Bordyuzha suggested Iran could join the CSTO saying, "The CSTO is an open organization. If Iran applies in accordance with our charter, we will consider the application". If Iran joined it would be the first state outside the former Soviet Union to become a member of the organization.

In 2021, Uzbekistan, after becoming observer to EAEU on 11 December 2020, conducted a bilateral military exercise with Russia and trilateral military exercise with Russia and Tajikistan, while its president joined a CSTO meeting as a guest, sparking rumours about potential reentry into CSTO.

Secretary General

The current secretary general is former Kazakh Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov, who took office on 1 January 2023.

Policy agenda

Information technology and cyber security
The member states adopted measures to counter cyber security threats and information technology crimes in a Foreign Ministers Council meeting in Minsk, Belarus. Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov put forward a proposal to establishing a Cyber Shield system.

Military personnel
The following list is sourced from the 2020 edition of "The Military Balance" published annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

See also

 Soviet Armed Forces
 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
 Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations
 Eurasian Economic Community (EURASEC)
 Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)
 GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM)
 Military alliance
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
 Post-Soviet states
 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
 Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)
 Warsaw Pact

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

 CSTO Official Site
 CSTO Official Site
 Official Site of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO
 The Charter of the CSTO

20th-century military alliances
21st-century military alliances
Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty
International military organizations
Military of Armenia
Military of Belarus
Military of Kazakhstan
Military of Kyrgyzstan
Military of Russia
Military of Tajikistan
Multilateral relations of Russia
Post-Soviet states
Organizations established in 1994
1994 establishments in Russia
1994 establishments in Asia
1994 establishments in Europe
United Nations General Assembly observers

Collective Security Treaty Organization


Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and staff with the pair's sales agency, Stanton & MacDougall. Today, Raincoast has over 90 employees and three divisions: Raincoast Distribution, Publishers Group Canada, and BookExpress.

Divisions

Raincoast Distribution

Raincoast Distribution is a Canadian company which provides complete sales, marketing and fulfillment services to a wide range of general trade and gift publishers from the United States, Britain and Canada. Companies distributed by Raincoast include Chronicle Books, Drawn & Quarterly, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, New Harbinger and St. Martin's Press.

Publishers represented by Raincoast Distribution

Beginning Press
Bilingual Books, Inc.
Bloomsbury
Chronicle Books
Creative Company
Drawn & Quarterly
Figure 1
Flatiron Books
Gibbs Smith
Hardie Grant
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Laurence King
Lonely Planet
Macmillan Publishers Group
Magnetic Poetry
The Mountaineers Books
New Harbinger Publications
Osprey
Page Two
Princeton Architectural Press
Quadrille
Sounds True
Sourcebooks
Raincoast Books
Tor/Forge
Twirl

Publishers Group Canada

Publishers Group Canada (PGC) was acquired by Raincoast Books in 2000. Based in Toronto, Ontario, PGC distributes independently owned book publishing houses including Grove Atlantic, New World Library and Egmont Books in Canada.

BookExpress

BookExpress is a wholesale division supplying Canadian bookstores and retailers. BookExpress carries bestselling books from publishers including Random House Canada, Penguin Books Canada, HarperCollins Canada, Scholastic Canada, Diamond Book Distribution and Firefly.

Raincoast Publishing

Between 1995 and 2008, Raincoast Books was also a book publisher. The Raincoast publishing program produced a range of fiction and non-fiction titles for both adults and children. Authors who published work with Raincoast included Anne Fleming, Alison Pick, Colin McAdam, Nick Bantock, George Bowering, Paul William Roberts, Naim Kattan, Roy Miki, Amanda K. Hale, and Bill Gaston. As a publisher, the company was noted for using large amounts of recycled paper in its books. In January 2008, Raincoast announced that it would cease to publish new books due to the rise in the Canadian dollar. Raincoast also ceased to be the Canadian publisher of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books in 2010.

Notes

External links
 Raincoast Distribution
 Publishers Group Canada

Book publishing companies of Canada

Raincoast Books


A  log splitter is a piece of machinery or equipment used for splitting firewood from softwood or hardwood logs that have been pre-cut into sections (rounds), usually by chainsaw or on a saw bench. Many log splitters consist of a hydraulic pump or electric motor which then powers a hydraulic or electrical rod and piston assembly. Generally, these are often rated by the tons of force they can generate. The higher the force rating, the greater the thickness or length of the rounds that can be split. The log splitter consists of all four major hydraulic components.

Most log splitter models for home use have a rating of around 10 tons, but professional hydraulic models may exert 30 tons of force or more. There are also manual log splitters, which use mechanical leverage to force logs through a sharpened blade assembly; and screw or 'corkscrew' types that are driven directly from an agricultural tractor's power take-off shaft where the splitter is mounted on the three-point hitch.

Power source

A simple log splitter may be powered by an electric motor driving a hydraulic pump or by gasoline or diesel engine with or without a tractor. The non-electric versions can be used remotely where the splitter can be moved to the location of the cut wood source. Split logs can then be loaded into trucks, trailers or bulk bags.

No matter what the power source, a log splitter either uses a hydraulic piston to drive the log through a stationary blade or a rotating cone-shaped screw mandrel that pulls the log up over a wedge. Some models have attachments that prevent the split logs from falling to the ground allowing the operator to reposition the logs quickly for a second pass on the log splitter. Some cone or screw splitters are mounted on steel platforms mounted on a three-point hitch that allow the log to be repeatedly split into smaller pieces without putting the wood down and up again.

Uses
Although smaller firewood splitters are intended for homes, there are now many commercial units available. Some commercial splitters are part of a 'firewood processor' that saw logs of timber into lengths, split them, and then carries the wood up an inclined conveyor onto a pile or into a bag, truck, or trailer. Specialty producers such as those producing maple syrup use units that split 4-foot lengths. Machines that split and point wood for fence posts also exist though they are few as it is generally safer and more convenient to see the posts.

The rising cost of domestic heating gas oil has reawakened a desire for alternative fuel sources and burning wood is carbon neutral. Modern wood-burning stoves are efficient and safe. Many consumers that would not have considered splitting their logs a few years ago are now burning wood fuel for both ecological and economical reasons.

Safety

Although a good log splitter can save the operator hours of labor, it is not possible to make it completely safe. Only trained users should operate a log splitter since anything caught between the log and the splitting blade will be subjected to a force of at least 10 tons, while most modern wood splitters will produce 25 tons or more. Most hydraulic machines now have 'two-handed operation' for safety which means that both of the operator's hands are needed to actuate the splitter thus keeping them out of the way of the moving blade.

The behavior of each log cannot be predicted, so a safety zone should be established around the splitter to prevent injury from flying splinters of wood. Helpers can pick up the individual pieces of firewood, but should not stand near the log splitter while it is in operation.

References

External links

 Log Splitter

Cutting machines
Firewood
Articles containing video clips
Forestry equipment

Log splitter


Marina Evgenievna Cherkasova (; born 17 November 1964) is a Russian retired pair skater. With Sergei Shakhrai, she won the 1979 European title at the age of 14. At 15, she was the 1980 Olympic silver medalist and 1980 World champion.

Career
Cherkasova and Shakhrai trained in Moscow with Stanislav Zhuk. Their main rivals included fellow Soviets Irina Rodnina / Alexander Zaitsev, whom they never defeated, Irina Vorobieva / Igor Lisovsky, Marina Pestova / Stanislav Leonovich, and Veronika Pershina / Marat Akbarov.

Cherkasova and Shakhrai were 12 and 18 respectively when they were paired together. Initially, there was a 35 cm height difference between the pair, with Cherkasova only 138 cm tall.

Cherkasova was 12 when the pair captured the bronze at their first European Championship in 1977. Their height difference facilitated innovation in twist and lift elements; they became the first pair to perform triple jump (toeloop) at "Moscow news" trophy 9 december 1977 and the split quadruple twist in 1977. Later, the judging standards were changed to value physical harmony between the partners, which handicapped Cherkasova and her partner.

They won the European title in 1979. By 1980 Cherkasova had grown 20 cm. The change affected their technical elements, however, the pair managed to win silver at 1980 Europeans, silver at the 1980 Olympics, and gold at Worlds. At the age of 15 years, 93 days, Cherkasova was one of the youngest figure skating Olympic medalists.

Shakhrai's problems lifting his now 45 kg partner eventually resulted in them splitting up. By 1981, Cherkasova had grown so tall that Shakhrai could no longer effectively lift her. This caused them to miss the medal podium at the World Championship in Hartford, Connecticut, finishing in fourth place.

Cherkasova and Shakhrai continued to train into the 1982 season, however eventually broke up. She briefly paired with Rashid Kadyrkaev, a World junior medalist in 1980 and 1981, but he left to skate with Elena Kvitchenko at the invitation of Igor Moskvin in Leningrad.

Later life
In 1982, Cherkasova joined the Moscow Ice Ballet where she met her husband. In 1986, they had a son, Vitaly, and a few years later, a daughter named Daria. Cherkasova is now a children's coach in Moscow.

Competitive highlights
(with Shakhrai)

References

Navigation

1964 births
Living people
Soviet female pair skaters
Russian female pair skaters
Olympic figure skaters for the Soviet Union
Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union
Olympic medalists in figure skating
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
European Figure Skating Championships medalists
Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics

Marina Cherkasova


Aaron Van Camp (June 23, 1816 – September 15, 1892) was an espionage agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He and his son Eugene B. Van Camp were members of the Rose O'Neal Greenhow Confederate spy ring, which in 1861 was broken up by Allan Pinkerton, head of the newly formed Secret Service.

At the time of the Civil War, Van Camp was a well-known dentist in Washington, D.C. After his arrest and imprisonment in the Old Capitol Prison, he was paroled in early 1862. During the remainder of the Civil War, he continued spying for the Confederacy.

He had taken his family to California during the Gold Rush of 1849, and then traveled in the South Pacific. In the 1850s he operated a whaling supply company in Samoa, where he was appointed as Commercial Agent for the United States in the Navigator Islands (now American Samoa) from 1853 to 1856. Later in 1881 he was appointed as Commercial Agent in Fiji, serving until 1884.

Early life and career
Van Camp was born in 1816 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  He married Maria L. Bestor of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in about 1836. Their son Eugene B. Van Camp was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1838. As a young man and Rebel soldier, Eugene assisted the elder Van Camp in his espionage activities for the Confederate States of America.

Aaron Van Camp practiced dentistry in Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. During the California Gold Rush period of the late 1840s, he took his family to California.

In 1851, Van Camp went on a voyage into the South Pacific and became interested in supplying whaling ships, with the Navigator Islands as his base. He established a whaling resupply outpost in Apia, Samoa, in 1852. In 1853, Van Camp was appointed as Commercial Agent to the Navigator Islands (Samoa) and to the Friendly Islands (Tonga) by the U. S. Secretary of State. He held that position until 1856, when he returned to the United States to resume his dentistry practice in Washington, D.C.

Upon his return to Washington, D. C. Van Camp strongly expressed his pro-slavery views, especially after John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, WV.

Espionage during the Civil War

In April 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, Van Camp's son Eugene enlisted in a Confederate cavalry unit and became an orderly for General P.G.T. Beauregard before the First Battle of Bull Run. Aaron and his son Eugene assisted Rose O'Neal Greenhow, who was operating a spy ring in the capital, in smuggling information pertaining to Union troop movements prior to that battle. Shortly thereafter, Greenhow's spy ring was broken up by Allan Pinkerton of the newly formed Union Intelligence Service.

In late December, 1861, the elder Van Camp was imprisoned as a suspected spy in downtown Washington in the Old Capitol Prison. Van Camp was released from custody on parole in March 1862 after signing an oath of allegiance to the Union.

After release, Van Camp most likely linked up with the Confederate Secret Service. In January 1864, both Van Camps were reported to have been engaging in spying activities for the Confederates in the Vicksburg, Mississippi, area, according to a confidential letter sent to U. S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton by a Union sympathizer. They were alleged to be conducting such espionage under the cover of trading in cotton. No arrests were made.

In April 1864, Van Camp arranged to secure a trading permit for Eugene to open a store at the Union-controlled Fort Pillow in Kentucky. In an attack by Confederate cavalry under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest a few days later, Eugene was badly wounded by a Confederate minie ball and was evacuated by Union forces to Illinois and then to New York for treatment.

In January 1865, Van Camp sent a letter to President Abraham Lincoln seeking that Eugene be "protected from the draft" which was denied. Eugene was permitted to return with Van Camp to their family home in Washington, D.C.

In April 1865, an anonymous letter was sent to Union General Christopher C. Augur, who was investigating the Lincoln assassination, accusing Van Camp, and his son Eugene of being involved in the President's assassination and the attempt on the life of Secretary of State William Seward. There is no evidence that either Van Camp was involved in the conspiracy.

Postbellum activities
Between 1881 and 1884, Van Camp served as U. S. Commercial Agent at Levuka, Fiji.  He died in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 1892, and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery (Washington, D.C.).

References

Further reading
 Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1970.
 Blackman, Ann. Wild Rose: Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy. New York: Random House, 2005. .
 Edwards, William E and Steers, Edward Jr., editors, The Lincoln Assassination. The Documents, Univ. of Illinois Press, 2009. .
 Kane, Harnett T. Spies for the Blue and Gray. New York: Doubleday & Co.
 Markle, Donald E. Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War. New York: Hippocene Books, 1994. .
 Richards, Rhys. Samoa's Forgotten Whaling Heritage, American Whaling in Samoan Waters 1824-1878. Wellington, New Zealand: Lithographic Services, Ltd. 1988. .
 Ross, Ishbel. Rebel Rose, Life of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Confederate Spy. New York: Harper & Bros.
 Ward, Andrew. River Run Red. The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War. New York: Viking Penguin Press, 2005. .

1816 births
1892 deaths
People from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
American Civil War spies
American Civil War prisoners of war
American proslavery activists
People of Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War
19th-century American dentists
Prisoners of war held by the United States

Aaron Van Camp


Qasím Khan (or Qasim of Kasimov) (died 1469) was the first khan of the Tatar Qasim Khanate, from 1452 to his death in 1469. He was the son of Kazan khan Oluğ Möxämmäd.

He participated in the battles of Belyov in 1437 and of Suzdal in 1445. After the Battle of Suzdal, he and his brother Yaqub were sent to Moscow to control the results of the treaty. He stayed at the palace of Vasili II of Russia to serve him. (When his father died in 1445 the Kazan throne went to his elder brother Mäxmüd which may have something to do with his decision to enter Russian service.) In 1449 at the Pakhra river near Moscow he defeated troops of Sayid Ahmad I, the khan of the Great Horde, that came to conquer Muscovy. In 1447–1453 he supported Vasili in his struggle against Dmitry Shemyaka. In 1452 Vasili II granted him a principality in Ryazan Principality, in territory formerly of Mishar Yurt, as a hereditary estate and Kasimov city. Those lands were designated the Qasim Khanate. During the 1467–1469 war the Russians attempted to make him Khan of Kazan. In 1469 he was followed by his son Daniyal.

See also
Mäxmüd
Kasimov

References
Henry Hoyle Howorth, History of the Mongols, 1880, Part 2, pp 429–230

Qasim Khanate
15th-century births
1469 deaths
15th-century monarchs in Europe

Qasim Khan


Christiaan David "Chris" Berger (27 April 1911 – 12 September 1965) was a Dutch athlete, competing in the sprints.

Career
Berger was a football player and changed to running after winning a 100 national title among footballers. In 1930 he ran his best 200 m time (21.1 s), which would remain the European record until 1951 and the Dutch national record until 1965. His career highlights came in 1934, when he had equalled the world record on the 100 m (10.3 s) in Amsterdam. Later at the first European Championships in Athletics, he won both the 100 m and 200 m sprints and finished third with the Dutch team at the 4 × 100 m relay. Originally the jury had declared the German athlete Erich Borchmeyer as winner of the 100 m, which led to outrage among the spectators who had clearly seen Berger win the race. The jury was eventually convinced to delay its decision after the films of the finish would be available the next day, which showed Berger to have won indeed.

Berger participated twice at the Olympics without much success. Much was expected from the Dutch athletes in 1932, but after a 10-day voyage by boat and a week on the train they didn't play much of a role in Los Angeles. Berger was eliminated in both sprints in the semifinals. In 1936, Berger had passed his peak and was overshadowed in his own country by Tinus Osendarp and Wil van Beveren, while the Dutch relay team ended up dropping the baton in the finals.

Between 1930 and 1934 Chris Berger won eight Dutch titles, four in each sprint event. He ended his career in sports in 1943 and became supervisor of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam in 1965 and is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. His daughter Elles was a popular presenter on Dutch television.

Competition record

References
 Heere, A. and Kappenburg, B. (2000) 1870 – 2000, 130 jaar atletiek in Nederland. Groenevelt b.v.
 Bijkerk, T. (2004) Olympisch Oranje. De Vrieseborch

External links
 Article on Berger (Dutch)

1911 births
1965 deaths
Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Dutch male sprinters
Olympic athletes for the Netherlands
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Athletes from Amsterdam
European Athletics Championships medalists

Chris Berger


Imant Karlis Raminsh  (Latvian: Imants Kārlis Ramiņš, born  18 September 1943) is a Canadian composer of Latvian descent, best known for his choral compositions. He resides in Coldstream, British Columbia.

Early life and education
Born in Ventspils, Latvia, he came to Canada in 1948 and became a naturalized citizen in 1954. He completed an ARCT (Associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music) diploma in violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he was a pupil of Albert Pratz. He then earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto, where he studied with Elmer Iseler.  He then spent two years at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, during which he studied composition, fugue, violin and conducting.

Career
During his studies in Salzburg, Raminsh played in the professional Camerata Academica orchestra. He established the music department at the College of New Caledonia in British Columbia and was also the founding conductor of the New Caledonia Chamber Orchestra.

In 1991, Raminsh's choral work "Magnificat" was performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall. At that time he was the principal violinist in the Okanagan symphony orchestra, and had also founded the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan and the Aura Chamber Choir.

He is a two-time winner of the biennial Canadian National Choral Awards in the category of "Outstanding Choral Work", first in 1990 for his Magnificat and again in 1994 for his Veni Sancte Spiritus. He held the position of principal second violin in the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO). He also conducted the Okanagan Youth Symphony Orchestra for a number of years.

In 2018 Imant Raminsh has been appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions and achievements as a Canadian musician, conductor and composer.

Discography
Simple Gifts (1991) - "A Northwest Trilogy". Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn (conductor). CBC Records - SMCD 5097
Love Songs for a Small Planet (1994) - "In the Night we Shall Go", "Psalm 121", and "Smile, O Voluptuous Cool-breath'd Earth". CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Vancouver Chamber Choir, soloists Ian Hampton and Linda Lee Thomas, Jon Washburn (conductor). Centrediscs - CMCCD 4893
Songs of the Lights (2000) - "Songs of the Lights".  Toronto Children's Chorus, Ruth Watson Henderson and Jean Ashworth Bartle (conductors).  Marquis Classics - ERAD 253
Choral Concert (2000) - "Ave Verum Corpus".
Songs of the Lights (2001). CBC Vancouver Orchestra, soloist Sandra Graham, Jon Washburn (conductor). CBC Records - SMCD 5116
Earth Chants (2002). Vancouver Chamber Choir, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Jon Washburn (conductor). CBC Records - SMCD 5219
Child with the Starry Crayon (2004) - "Deux chansons".  Oriana Singers, William Brown (conductor). Independent - VA 2004-1
Blessed is the World that Sings (2005) - "Ave Verum Corpus".  Cantilon Chamber Choir, Heather Johnson (conductor).  Arktos Recordings - ARK 200586
The Nightingale (2005) - "The Nightingale". Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, Kurt Ollmann et al.
Introduction to Canadian Music (2006) - "Ave Verum Corpus".  Vancouver Chamber Choir.  Naxos - NAXOS 855017
Canadian classical music

References

External links
Living Composers Project - Imant Raminsh
Encyclopedia of Music in Canada - Imant Ramnish
Sound clips and score samples

1943 births
Living people
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Canadian classical composers
Canadian male classical composers
People from Ventspils
Latvian emigrants to Canada
Members of the Order of Canada
The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni
Mozarteum University Salzburg alumni
Naturalized citizens of Canada
20th-century Canadian composers
20th-century Canadian male musicians
21st-century Canadian male musicians
People from the Regional District of North Okanagan

Imant Raminsh


Paul Shelley (born Paul Matthews; 15 May 1942) is an English actor.

Shelley was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, and trained at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art). Since then he has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor. He has worked extensively with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in several West End productions.

Television and film roles
His work for television includes A Tale of Two Cities (1980), the BBC Sunday classic serial in which he played the dual lead roles of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, Secret Army (1978–79) as Major Nicholas Bradley, The Fourth Arm (1979), Special Branch (1974), Blake's 7 (1979), Doctor Who (1982), Inspector Morse (1990), Paradise Postponed (1986) based on book by John Mortimer (audiobook-recorded by Paul Shelley as well) and its sequel Titmuss Regained (1991, also audiobook),, Revelations (1994–95), Heartbeat (2002) and Crossroads (2003). In the popular ITV detective drama Midsomer Murders episode "The Creeper" (2009) Shelley performed as Inspector Barnaby's boss, Chief Constable Richard Lovell and appeared as Jed Grey in several episodes in BBC TV series Doctors (2010).

Films include Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Polanski's Macbeth (1971), It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1976) and God's Outlaw (1986).

Theatre roles
Shelley played Duncan in Rupert Goold's production of Macbeth ("the Macbeth of a lifetime" according to critics) which after its sellout runs at Chichester Festival Theatre in summer 2007 was transferred to the West End in the autumn and then to New York from February to May 2008. During the Chichester season 2007 he also played Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night.

Other notable roles are: at Shakespeare's Globe: Julius Caesar (title role), Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, three Tom Stoppard plays in the West End The Invention of Love (Oscar Wilde), Arcadia (Bernard), The Real Thing (Henry), at Royal National Theatre: The Secret Rapture (Tom French), Hedda Gabler (Tesman), The Crucible (Hale), Lady in the Dark (Kendal), at Royal Shakespeare Company: Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt), King Lear (Edmund), The Winter's Tale (Leontes), Troilus and Cressida (Achilles), Les liaisons dangereuses (Valmont). Shelley has also often worked at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, as an actor and director, on such plays as Uncle Vanya and King Lear. For nine months he played Arthur Kipps in the thriller The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre (2006–07).

Shelley played Elyot Chase in Noël Coward's Private Lives at the Theatre Royal, York and returned there to direct Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons, in June 2008. He played the Duke of Norfolk in A Man For All Seasons, on tour and at the Haymarket in 2005-06. In a Donmar Warehouse production of T.S. Eliot's The Family Reunion he played Colonel Gerald Piper in a run from November 2008 to January 2009. At York's Theatre Royal from 30 May-20 June 2009 Paul played Max in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. A Voyage Around My Father, by John Mortimer, with Paul Shelley playing the Father, was a Salisbury Playhouse production in autumn 2010. Rose Theatre, Kingston in March 2011 showed Shakespeare's As You Like It with Paul Shelley in the dual roles of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior. After that he played Ralph in Harold Pinter's 'Moonlight' at the Donmar Warehouse. "Earthquakes in London" by Mike Bartlett and directed by Rupert Goold was on UK tour until 12 November 2011 with Paul Shelley as the father, Robert. In June 2012 the Orange Tree Theatre showed The Conquering Hero with Paul Shelley as Colonel Rokeby. He played Andrew in Mike Bartlett's adaptation of "Medea" on tour until December 2012. Produced by Headlong. Theatre Royal Bath showed "King Lear" in July–August 2013 with Paul as the Earl of Gloucester. From 21 January to 8 February 2014 Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh showed Eugene O'Neill's "Long day's journey into night" with Paul playing the father, James Tyrone. "Brideshead Revisited" on UK tour April–June 2016 with Paul as Lord Marchmain.

Audiobooks
He is also an audiobook narrator and has recorded some thirty audiobooks, among them John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman, Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim, several of Robert Goddard's novels, James Cameron's An Indian Summer, Nicholas Crane's Two Degrees West and Staying On by Paul Scott. He has been called "the best reader there is" and has three times won the Audiofile Earphones Award.

Personal life

Paul Shelley has toured and taught at universities in the USA. He is married to actress Paula Stockbridge and has a son and daughter from his previous marriage to actress Eileen Nicholas. His elder brother Francis Matthews was also an actor, and sister Maura Matthews.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

1942 births
Living people
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
Alumni of RADA
male actors from Leeds

Paul Shelley


Mahalath was, according to the Bible, the third wife of Esau, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that Canaanite wives (as was the case of his first two wives, Basemath and Judith) displeased his father, Isaac ().

Esau sought this union with a non-Canaanite, in an effort to reconcile his relationship with his parents, namely with his father Isaac whose blessing he sought (). However, there is no record of his parents' approval for the union of Esau and Mahalath. She bore a son, Reuel, to Esau. ()

In , on the other hand, Esau's three wives are differently named; his family is mentioned as composed of two Canaanite wives, Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah, and a third: Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and 28 with those mentioned in Genesis 36, in the following way:

 Basemath () = Adah (), the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
 Judith () = Aholibamah (), also a Canaanite;
 Mahalath () = Bashemath (), Esau's cousin and third wife, daughter of Ishmael

References

Book of Genesis people
Women in the Hebrew Bible

Mahalath


Highland High School is a public high school in Bakersfield, California, United States, providing technology-based instruction across the curriculum. Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors classes are offered for juniors and seniors in English, calculus, statistics, math analysis, U.S. History, government/economics, chemistry, physics, psychology, geology, environmental science, Spanish, and French. Starting in 2015, they offered AP World History to sophomores. The school offers a college preparatory which includes four years of English, four years of mathematics through calculus, four years of Spanish and French, three years of social studies including world civilizations, U.S. history, U.S. government, and economics, and three years of science chosen from biology, earth science, chemistry, and physics.

Approximately 10 percent of Highland's graduates go directly to a four-year college or university with an additional 40 percent attending community and technical colleges. The fine arts department provides a wide variety of enrichment courses including orchestra, intermediate and advanced band (Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble), five choirs, beginning, intermediate, and advanced arts/crafts, as well as beginning, intermediate, and advanced drama/theater studies. Forensics (public speaking) and journalism/ publications are taught through the English department. Additionally, Highland offers two four-year Project Lead the Way programs: engineering and biomedicine. Students are highly encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities and in athletics. Highland provides more than 30 clubs and 32 athletic teams. Highland has an Academic Decathlon team which typically places in the top five teams each year in the county competition and a Science Bowl team that has won the regional competition and represented the region in the national competition several times. Highland's athletic teams are competitive. Highland's students are active in community service, typically among the top schools in the highest percentage of eligible donors giving blood.

Highland High School, located in the northeast part of Bakersfield, serves a multi-cultural population of more than 2,000 students drawn from three distinct eastside neighborhoods, two of which are uniquely "island" areas outside the immediate school neighborhood from which Highland draws approximately 53% of its students. Career-technical education courses that are offered at the school include agriculture, computer applications and CAD/drafting. The CAD/drafting classes focus on architectural design, qualify for UC fine arts credit, and are articulated with Bakersfield College. Highland's drafting students compete each year in the California State Fair; the 2006 competition resulted in 8 student ribbons won and another 7 Honorable Mention awards given. Highland's agriculture program is outstanding and produced the state science project winner who will be one of eight semi-finalists who will present their projects at the national Future Farmers of America Conference in October. Highland's music programs are well known throughout the county and state.

Highland is proud to be the county site for the deaf and hard-of-hearing program and now includes five periods of elective classes in American Sign Language (ASL) for its students. Highland offers a variety of programs including Special Education, Title One, English Learner, Migrant PASS, Independent Study, and Work Experience. Literacy classes are offered to incoming freshmen whose skills need to be strongly supported for improved academic success and supplemental classes in English and math are offered to accommodate students who have not passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

Music program
Highland High School has an instrumental music program. They offer five music courses during the day: marching band (fall), symphonic band and wind ensemble (spring), string orchestra, and a guitar class, as well as a zero period percussion class and an eighth period jazz band.

Advanced band
The advanced band has a marching season that starts with band camp two weeks before regular classes start and runs through mid-November. Then, they switch to playing indoor concert music. The marching band is known as the Black Watch Brigade, a tribute to the Royal Highland Regiment. The Black Watch Brigade performs a field show at various marching band competitions throughout the state each year. Additionally, they perform at home and away football games. Their ensemble consists of the marching band, zero period drumline and auxiliary percussion, and color guard. The number of members has grown substantially over the last few years, resulting in the group being reclassified and moved up a division.

Notable alumni
 Gregory Porter - multiple Grammy-winning jazz singer
 Nicole Parra - California State Assemblywoman
Jonathan Davis - lead singer of Korn
 Reginald Arvizu - bassist of Korn
 Kris Kohls - drummer of Adema
 Michael Lockwood - guitarist, was married to Lisa Marie Presley
 Derek Mears - actor
 Robert Swift - basketball player (transferred to Bakersfield High School)
 Brian Welch - guitarist of Korn

References

External links
 Highland High School Website

High schools in Bakersfield, California
Educational institutions established in 1972
Public high schools in California
1972 establishments in California

Highland High School (Bakersfield, California)


Shiva Shankar Manandhar (; 22 February 193214 November 2004) was a singer, music composer of Nepali songs and the chief actor in the first Nepali movie, Aama. For nearly a half century beginning from 1950 to late 1990, his name has probably been mentioned more often in books, journals, lectures and conversations about Nepalese music than any other musicians.

Singing and composing music for songs of love, tragedy, devotion (bhajan) and patriotism, he pioneered many of the genres of modern Nepali music. He has composed music for around 1,200 Nepalese songs. He himself sang about three hundred songs. For these contributions Shankar received dozens of prestigious national awards.

Shankar was recruited to the service of the state-owned Radio Nepal in 1951 by Bal Krishna Sama, the pre-eminent playwright of Nepal. Soon he was tasked with exploring and mentoring new musical talent and overseeing the recording of songs in the studio for radio broadcast. Together with his colleague Nati Kaji, he made Radio Nepal an institution for breeding modern Nepalese music and songs. All Nepalese singers and musicians of the later half of the twentieth century came into prominence through this institution. Radio Nepal fostered not only the in-country musical talents, but also motivated several prodigious musicians of Darjeeling (India) to blossom in Nepal. They included Amber Gurung, Gopal Yonzon, Aruna Lama and several others.

While working at Radio Nepal, Shiva Shankar composed music for many prominent Nepalese singers. These included Tara Devi (singer), Mira Rana, Nirmala Shrestha, Gyanu Rana, Aruna Lama, Kunti Moktan, Ganga Malla, Puspa Nepali, Narayan Gopal, Prem Dhwoj Pradhan, Yogesh Vaidhya, Udit Narayan, Dhruba KC, Manik Ratna, Deep Shrestha, Bhakta Raj, Bacchu Kailash, Rubi Joshi, and Deepak Bajracharya. He composed music for prominent lyricists such as Ram Man Trishit, Kiran Kharel, Bhabuk, Yadab Kharel, Laxman Lohani, and MBB Shah (Mahendra of Nepal). Performing for fifty years, he helped Nepalese music attain popularity in what was termed the "Golden Age".

Besides creating popular melodies, he also experimented with innovations in Nepalese music. He demonstrated how folk songs rendered with a few simple musical instruments could be enriched with an ensemble of modern contemporary orchestra instruments. The trend of modernization with the introduction of pop-style songs, which Shankar played a large role in starting, catalyzed the emergence of the present day full-fledged Nepalese pop songs. Although he pioneered changes and innovation, he always advocated for preserving the unique essence of Nepalese style, so that Nepalese songs would not be overshadowed by foreign songs and music.

Shankar played the leading role of a "Lahure Dai" in the film Aama (Mother), the first Nepali feature movie, produced in 1964 (2021 BS) by the Government of Nepal. However, he did not pursue an acting career except for a few cameo appearances in documentaries. Nevertheless, he composed music for several movies in the early days of the Nepalese film industry.

Early life

He was born to mother Ram Maya and father Man Bahadur on 22 February 1932 in a Manandhar household of the Newar community, in Pako, Newroad of Kathmandu, Nepal. Man Bahadur Manandhar was a volunteer music teacher in the local community and taught classical Newari songs to the youngsters. Shiva Shankar's musical aspirations were probably inspired by his father's community activity. Unfortunately, his father died at a very early age. Shankar completed his secondary school education, but did not pursue any formal musical education before becoming established as a singer and music composer. In 1974, he pursued a graduate course in Indian classical music at Kalanidhi Sangeet College in Kathmandu.

Career

He took a job at Radio Nepal in May 1951 (2007 BS) and served there for the next 42 years. This was the period of his active creative life. For forty years, he composed and sang hit songs. From 1987 to 1991 (2043-2047 BS), he was the Executive Director of the Ratna Recording Corporation. He retired from Radio Nepal in 1996 (2051 BS).

His post-retirement period coincided with the onset of commercialization in Nepalese music. He could not adapt to the glamour of commercialization and eschewed making commercial music. As with his contemporary colleagues in music, he remained virtually silent after retirement. In 2004, he fell gravely ill with terminal stage liver cancer. He died on November 14, 2004.

Personal life

He was married to Badri Kumari Manandhar at the age of 24 and had three sons: Gauri Shankar, Rabi Shankar and Shashi Shankar. None of them followed a career in music. Badri Kumari supported the family economically by running a family business. She died in September 1998.

Awards
Note: all dates are in Bikram Samwat.

Various national awards
 First Place in the All Nepal Music Competition – 2019
 Best Music Composition Awards – 2020, 2021, 2025 and 2027
 Mahendra-Ratna Abhushan – 2022
 Gorkha Dakshin Bahu 4th  - 2035
 Chinnalata Award – 2043
 Gunaraj Music Award - 2043
 Trishaktipatta 3rd  - 2053
 Nepal Motion Picture Award – 2056
 Supradipta Birendra Pajatantra Bhashkar 3rd – 2060
 Image Life-time Achievement Award - 2058
 Natikaji Memorial Award – 2061

Recognitions and honors
 Nepal Motion Picture Artists Union – 2050
 Sadhana Samman by the Shadhana Art Foundation – 2054
 Radio Nepal – 2055
 Golden Jubilee Samman of Radio Nepal – 2056
 Nepal Samman by the Sagarmatha Academy – 2057
 Kathmandu Municipality Ward 13 – 2057
 Ahwan Organization - 2057
 Mahadev Samman by the Keshav-Sushma Bhajan Guthi – 2058

Filmography

 Aama (Theme song, with Nati Kaji)
 Manko Bandh (with Nati Kaji)
 Kumari (with Chandra Raj)
 Pachis Basanta (with Nati Kaji)
 Shanti Deep (with Nati Kaji)

Broadway songs (Geeti Natak) and albums of situational songs
Ashirbad (album) ("Farewell to Bride") - Lyrics: Laxman Lohani
Nalapanima ("Battle at the Nalapani Fort") - Lyrics: Bal Krishna Sama
Parikshya ("Ordeal") - Lyrics: Tulsi Dibas
Swongu Nagu ("Three Stars") - Lyrics: Durga Lal Shrestha
Sulochana (Based on an epic poem) - Lyrics: Shyam Das Vaishnav (Not Staged)

References

External links
 https://web.archive.org/web/20110823174958/http://onlinesahitya.com/magazine/readarticle.php?AID=2858 Online Sahitya : Truly Versatile Shiva Shankar
 https://web.archive.org/web/20110904190639/http://shivashankar.org/

1932 births
2004 deaths
Male actors from Kathmandu
Newar
Nepalese Hindus
20th-century Nepalese male singers
Deaths from liver cancer
Musicians from Kathmandu

Shiva Shankar