Jared Meunier is a first-year master's student in REEES at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jared graduated with a degree in Anthropology from Indiana University - Indianapolis. After graduating, he taught English with the Peace Corps in Ukraine from 2018 through 2020. He also taught English for six months in Qarshi, Uzbekistan. He has also spent time in Omalo,...

Sonia Kelly is a second-year student in the dual M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies/M.S. in Library and Information Science program and a 2023-2024 REEEC FLAS fellow, studying Russian. She also works with e-resources in the Main Library's Acquisitions and Cataloguing Services. Before coming to UIUC, Sonia received her B.A. in History (TESOL minor) jointly from...

Eden is a first-year REEES MA student originally from Northern California. She earned her B.A. from the University of Toronto (Canada), and majored in European Affairs and Slavic Languages and Literatures with a concentration in Russian. She has been studying Russian since high school, and began study of Ukrainian at UofT in 2021, which she is continuing at Illinois. Her academic interests lie...

Katherine Ashcraft is a second-year student in the joint M.S. Library and Information Sciences/M.A. History program and a 2022-2023 REEEC FLAS fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She previously earned a B.A. in History Education from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Before coming to UIUC, she taught English in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan through the Fulbright English...

Jacob Springer is graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this year with an MA in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. He received his BA in Slavic languages and literatures and history from the University of Kansas. Jacob came to the REEES program to have a better understanding of Eastern Europe and to prepare for a career working with foreign languages. During...

Cassie Ward completed her degree programs this Spring 2022 semester, earning an M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her B.A.s in History and Psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL in 2018. Cassie has engaged in research on the Americanization of...

Tabitha Cochran is graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this year with an MA in REEES and an MS in Library and Information Science. She received her BA in Russian Studies and International Studies from Macalester College in 2013. In her first year, she assisted Professor Jessica Greenberg with an initiative on Legal Humanities as part of REEEC’s Critical Methods Series. In...

Lisa Bobbitt completed her degree program this Fall 2021 semester, earning a B.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies with a minor in sociology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During Lisa’s senior year at Illinois, she completed a research paper that explored the ideology of race and similarities and differences in how African Americans and Afro Russians...