George A. Kourvetaris, NIU sociology professor, will be one of five initial recipients of the Heritage Award presented by the Greek-American Community Services Office of Chicago on May 1.

The purpose of this award is to honor those who have been active in Greek-American relations. All six of the award winners have written books and have contributed significantly to the Greek experience in the United States.

W. William Minor, Sociology Department chairman, said Kourvetaris has been a distinguished professor in the department for a number of years. Minor said he is happy to see Kourvetaris getting “the recognition he so richly deserves.”

The other five winners are Theano Papazoglou-Margaris, Harry Mark Petrakis, Charles Moskos, and Andrew Kopan.

Kourvetaris said both Petrakis and Margaris are award-winning authors and are very well known. Kourvetaris said Margaris is the only author in the U.S. who writes books in Geek.

“Margaris came here in the 1920’s from the Asia-Minor disaster, which is now Turkey,” he said. She writes with the “passion and experience” of the best of authors, he said.

Kourvetaris said he is the author or co-author of five books. One, which focuses on Greeks, is titled First and Second Generation Greeks in Chicago. He said this book is about the early Greeks that came to America at the turn of the century and their children’s experiences, he said.

The other four books he has written are about political sociology, ethnicity and military sociology. He said he is currently co-authoring Modern Greece in Search of Identity, to be published by Oxford Press in October.

Kourvetaris is a contributor to the Greek-American heritage, he said. He is a member of over 10 professional organizations, has received awards and grants and has written over 40 articles in various journals.

e said he has been to many international conferences in Greece, England and Cyprus. As a hobby, Kourvetaris writes poetry in Greek about the themes of immigrants.

is most important achievement is being the founder of the Journal of Political and Military Sociology in 1973, Kourvetaris said. This journal pertains to the relationship between the military, politics and society as a whole, he said.

This academic journal is self-supporting and is published biannually, he said.

Kourvetaris is also the founder of the Midwest Chapter of KRIKOS, an organization that strengthens the ethnic and cultural links between the U.S. and Greece. He said he is the president of this international organization that has over 1000 members.

Kourvetaris attended Teacher’s College in Tripolis, Greece and he earned his bachelor’s degree from Loyola University in Chicago and a master’s degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He received his doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston. Kourvetaris has been at NIU for 18 years.

The award ceremony is scheduled at the Diplomat Restaurant, 5600 W. Fullerton in Chicago. This is the first year the GACS has given this award.