PSU Magazine Fall 2003

Steve Kosokoff, speech communicatio emeritus faculty, now works for hu rights issues in the Balkans. l2 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 2002 PHOTO BY STEVE DIPAOLA hat he thought would be an interesting twist on a vaca– tion Lo Mongolia has turned into a passion for Steve Kosokoff, professor emeritus of speech communication. ln 1996, Kosokoff and his wife , Terry Rogers, were casting about for an unusual vacation destination and thought of Mongolia. But a simple two weeks in the remote Central Asian country wouldn't do the trick. Kosokoff and Rogers had been traveling to China almost yearly since 1974. Kosokoff taught in lnner Mongolia for a year during a sabbatical in the early 1980s. And the couple had just returned from a year in Kyrgyzs– tan, where Kosokoff had taught at the Kyrgyz-American College. So "unusual" took a little doing. A chance connection provided the twist. "A friend of a friend who lived in Mongolia said, 'Come be an election observer,"' says Kosokoff. "That sounded interesting, so we did. " Kosokoff's decision launched an after-career he could never have imag– ined . He's listened to victims of ethnic cleansing tell horrific stories; heard the accounts of girls sold into slavery after they answered ads for babysitting; and struggled against bureaucratic politics within the human rights movement. He says the five years since he retired from PSU have been some of the most difficult-and rewarding-of his life. lt started on the roadless plateau of Central Asia. bout the size of Alaska, Mongolia and its 2.3 million inhabitants had been under Commu- nisl ru le since the 1920s. On the deso– late plain of the high steppe lies the small town of Harhorin, once the capital of ancient Mongolia. ln 1996, when Kosokoff and Rogers arrived after a rugged overland expedi– tion , Harhorin was a sleepy town of a few hundred year-round inhabitants. But as the time for the election approached, rural residents resplen– dent in their finest clothing began flooding in. As a guest of the opposi– tion party, Kosokoff hunkered down at the election site and watched.