Michael Andrew Kukral
Michael Andrew Kukral is the author of one of the few published books detailing the experience of an American student during the 1989 Velvet Revolution in what was then communist Czechoslovakia. From 1988 to 1991, Kukral was a doctoral student in geography at the University of Kentucky and among the first small group of Fulbright Scholars in Prague.
Biography
Early life and education
Born in the rural town of Richfield, Ohio to Clarence and Ada (Nemer) Kukral, he first graduated from Ohio University with degrees in Geography, Environmental Science, and Political Science. He attended Revere High School in the same class as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. He is featured as a central character in Derf Backderf's graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer" and the 2017 film of the same title starring Ross Lynch. Kukral was later inducted into the Revere Hall of Fame for contributions to education and writing. In the 1980s he appeared as an extra in the Holiday Classic "A Christmas Story", appearing in the crowd outside when the main character's father receives the "leg lamp" award.
Career
Kukral is also the author of several best selling study guides for college students of geography as well as articles on Czechs in America. Since 1999 Professor Kukral has been on the faculty at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he is also faculty advisor to his fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. In 2010, his account of The Velvet Revolution was published in The Czech Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Kukral is currently Auditor of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU).
In addition to publications on Czech topics, Mike Kukral is a noted authority on the player piano, especially regarding the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano, and is former editor and publisher of the Bulletin of the Automatic Musical Instruments Collectors Association (AMICA). His home is open open to demonstrations of these instruments. Music had always been central to Kukral's life, from playing and singing in musicals to performing in the OU Marching 110 for eight years. He plays piano, guitar, and trombone.
Kukral started a local chapter of Faculty without Borders in 2012 and traveled to Kenya as part of a team of engineers and scientists and established contacts at Egerton University. The next two years he returned to Kenya for extensive geographic field studies with 12 students from Rose-Hulman and continues his interest in East Africa.
Published works
- Kukral, M.A. 1997. Prague 1989: Theater of Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-88033-369-3.
- Kukral, M.A. 2003. Study Guide for the Human Mosaic. New York & Boston: Freeman.
- Kukral, M.A. (ed.) 2003-08. Bulletin of the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association, all issues. San Francisco: AMICA Publications.
- Kukral, M.A. 2005. "Czech Settlements in 19th Century Cleveland, Ohio," East European Quarterly.
- Kukral, M.A. 2010. "Prague 1989: Theater of Revolution," in The Czech Reader, Bazant and Starn, eds. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4794-1.