The University of Bucharest will bestow, during a ceremony which will take place Wednesday, November 6th 2024, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to reputed British historian Dennis Deletant, an expert in the history of Romania. The event will begin at 1 PM in the Senate Hall of the University of Bucharest (90 Panduri Street, Bucharest).
Professor Dennis Deletant’s entire activity was marked, ever since the debut of his studies, by the interest for the Romanian language, history and culture. In a timeframe when the entire European continent was dominated by instability, Dennis Deletant chose to look at Romania beyond adversities and to focus on the positive aspects, discovering a complex universe, away from the usual stereotypes about our country.
His academic career, which started with the position of assistant in 1969 at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, includes teaching and research activities at institutions from across the world, such as the University of Amsterdam and Georgetown University Washington. His fundamental papers, of which we mention Ceaușescu and the Securitate (published in Romanian by Humanitas, 1998), The communist terror in Romania: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and the Police state 1948 – 1965 (Polirom, 2001) or Romania 1916 – 1941. A political history (Humanitas, 2024), offer an essential perspective on Romania’s contemporary history and contribute to understanding the nuances of this period by the international public.
During his career, professor Dennis Deletant became an intellectual engaged in aim for the common good, militating for the popularization of Romanian-British relations. He was a translator and correspondent for the BBC and was involved in charitable initiatives, such as the British Book Appeal, whose goal was to replenish the funds of the Central University Library in Bucharest. At the same time, professor Deletant supported projects to conserve Romanian rural patrimony under the auspices of His Majesty Charles III of the United Kingdom.
For all this, professor Dennis Deletant enjoyed broad public recognition receiving, in 1995, the title of Officer of the Imperial British Empire (OBE), as an acknowledgement of his contributions in the bilateral relationships between the United Kingdom and Romania. In 2000, president Emil Constantinescu granted the Order For Merit in Commander Rank for services brough to Romanian democracy, and in 2016, president Klaus Iohannis decorated him with the order Steaua României in Officer Rank.
Bestowing the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest to professor Dennis Deletant represents a sign of recognition of his remarkable activity in the field of Romanian history and his outstanding contribution to promoting academic relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Romania.