University Times

A memorial service will be held for Bonka Boneva at 2 p.m. on Sept.19, at 4127 Sennott Square.

Boneva, 53, an instructor in Pitt’s psychology department, died Sept. 2, 2004, in an automobile accident in Potter County, Pennsylvania, near the Allegheny National Forest. She was returning from a hike.

Boneva, a Bulgarian social scientist, first came to America in 1988 for a research project, and ultimately a book, on Bulgarian immigrants in the Chicago area. Her scholarship in immigrant motivations, adaptation and social identification issues continued during her research years at Pitt, beginning in 1993.

Boneva also was known for her research on social attitude changes as a result of Internet usage. Generally, Boneva’s research explored the social issues faced by ordinary people trying to adapt to new, extraordinary and sometimes threatening experiences and technologies, according to colleagues.

After completing her Ph.D. in social science in Bulgaria, Boneva was awarded a NATO grant for research at Pitt. She published several books and worked as a scholar at Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon, as well as teaching at Robert Morris University.

According Pitt colleague Irene Hanson Frieze, Boneva “was interested in helping students to better understand the world and tried to introduce international issues into her classes. She was very excited to be able to teach on Semester at Sea in 2003.”

Frieze also said Boneva had an uncommon love of learning and was always trying to expand her knowledge. For example, Boneva considered pursuing a second Ph.D. to bolster her knowledge of quantitative techniques when she came to Pitt. She did course work to learn more advanced statistical techniques, Frieze said. “It’s not common for relatively senior professionals to do that.”

Frieze added that Boneva was a “very modest person.”

Boneva, who lived in Point Breeze, is survived by her husband Kamen and daughter Boriana, who left Bulgaria to join her in the mid-1990s. She is also survived by a brother and parents who live in Bulgaria.

Memorial contributions will be used to help her daughter complete her education at Pitt, where she is an undergraduate student in anthropology. Contributions should be sent to Janet Schofield, 517 LRDC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 15260.