Three Russian-major graduates in the Class of 1992 spent the summer after graduation working on a Hewlett-funded project in St. Petersburg, working with associate professor HELEN SCOTT on a grass-roots project studying women's issues in the new Russia. Recipients of this unique postgraduate opportunity to apply their Russian language to important problems in Russia's second largest city were AMY BLISS, RACHEL LANDSBERG, and KRIS ROBISON. Other members of the group were members of the Class 1993: NIEKA APELL and ANNICA CARLSTEDT. All the members of the group gave presentations of their experiences to the College public in April of 1993. The Spring 1998 issue of the Grinnell Magazine contains articles on, among others, this Russia-based Hewlett project.

AMY BLISS (Russian and REES). Following her Hewlett project in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1992, Amy worked at the Center for Human Rights Advocacy in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to the Center's focus on human rights in the former Soviet youth, Amy joined fellow Center employee DARREL MULLINS '91 in working with Bosnian refugees in Colorado. Meanwhile, Amy published an article in the Fall-Winter 1992 issue of Surviving Together. Entitled "Feminism or Feminization: Russian Women Want the Right to Choose," Amy's article drew on her Hewlett-project experiences. Amy then entered the School of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. While serving as article editor of The Comparative Labor Journal, Amy worked with the Russian-language edition of Russia's new labor code. Amy wrote that her "Grinnell Russian education has served me well in building a strong foundation on which to figure out the complexities of the labor code!" Having finished law school, Amy is now clerking with a law firm in Iowa.

FRANK DOUMA (REES and Political Science). Frank participated in the January 1990 Study Tour of the Soviet Union. Frank is currently employed as a Research Fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He researches mostly transportation policy with some telecommunications policy thrown in for variety. He got there by first obtaining a law degree and an MA in Public Affairs from the U of M. After various transportation jobs around the Twin Cities, he returned to the U in 1999.
Not a lot of Russian (or international at all, for that matter) work, but they have another Center at the Humphrey that focuses on the redevelopment activities of Central and Eastern European countries, so that keeps him informed. They have been active recently in giving us an "inside story" on the activities in Ukraine!
Frank can be contacted at: douma002@tc.umn.edu.

CHARLOTTE HOSS LECLERCQ (Russian). Charlotte earned the M.A. degree in Slavic languages and literatures at Purdue University.

RACHEL LANDSBERG (Russian and English and Education). Following her Hewlett project in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1992, Rachel moved on to Moscow, where she worked for the Russian-American Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. Her work for this organization kept Rachel in frequent professional contact with AMY BLISS '92 and DARREL MULLINS '92, working for the Center for Human Rights Advocacy in Boulder, Colorado. After a period of Judaic studies in Israel, Rachel now works in Jewish religious education in New York, and her duties there have taken her to the former Soviet Union on several occasions, visiting renascent Jewish communities across that vast land, including Siberia.

JAMES MAGRUDER (Russian). While studying in Moscow during his undergraduate years, Jim first thought about joining the Orthodox preisthood. In 2000, James and his wife (Laurel Battles '91 BA French) moved to Yonkers, New York, so that he could study at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. He graduated a Master of Divinity in 2003 and worked with the Russian collection of the seminary library for a year. Just three months ago, he began graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, leading ultimately to a Ph.D. in the history of early Christian and Byzantine art. His plan is to minor in Medieval art, comparing early Germanic and early Russian art as part of the transfer of "Roman" civilization to Western and Eastern Europe.
Jamie can be contacted at:
610 Somerset Road #301
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-662-4939
jlmagruder@comcast.net.

ANGELA ORANGE KOBLITZ (Russian and REES). In the summer following graduation, Angela worked as an intern at the Center for Human Rights Advocacy in Boulder, Colorado. Angela then earned a degree in Russian-English translating at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and she now works for Alaska Airlines, which has developed numerous routes to cities in Siberia and the Russian Far East.

KRIS ROBISON (Russian). Following her Hewlett project in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1992, Kris remained in that city for a number of years, working at a number of jobs, including office manager for the radio station "Radio One." Since returning from Russia, Kris has pursued a graduate degree in health care, and she hears the siren call of Russia, where she may wish to combine her knowledge of Russia with her new specialization.

RAQUEL SIMOES (Russian). ...

MARIE SMITH (Russian). Aided by a Russian Study Award, Marie spent her first six months after graduation in St. Petersburg, where she studied Russian methods of training competitive swimmers. An avid member of the Grinnell swim team as an undergraduate, Marie has earned the M.A. in kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. She has worked as the aquatic director of the Boys and Girls Club of Minneapolis and, more recently, in the campaign office of Rebuilding the Village, a branch of the Boys and Girls Club of Minneapolis.
Marie is now in graduate school at Hamline University getting her Masters in Teaching, ESL K-12. She also works full time for a small non-profit in Saint Paul as the Financial Coordinator.
Marie can be contacted at:
5929 Newton Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55419
612-285-0044
swimarie@yahoo.com.

SARAH STEVENS (Russian). ...

KAREN WILLIAMS (Russian). ...

THOMAS ZABEL (Russian). Tom earned a Russian Study Award to help finance his partially salaried position as a teacher of English in Kiev, Ukraine, during the 1992-93 academic year. Tom succeeded VINCENT KISTE '90 and ALEXANDER (SANDY) WILLIAMS '91 in this position. He taught English at the Kiev Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages in Kiev, Ukraine. He got married to a woman from Kiev named Victoria, and they moved to the US. They now have two sons, Vlastislav (9 years old) and Yaroslav (8 months old). He worked at the University of Iowa until he got into the MBA program at U of I. He graduated there in 1999, and moved to Connecticut, where he worked at a marketing company called Trilegiant as a business analyst. This year he got laid off there and has taken a job with an investment bank called UBS Warburg. He and his family live in Milford, CT which is about 15 minutes from Yale University, and is on the coast of Connecticut, about 1 hour northeast of New York City. They like to head down into the city from time to time to hang out in the Russian areas, especially Brighton Beach and other parts of Brooklyn.
He's used his Russian constantly since graduating, especially since they speak mainly Russian at home. His in-laws visit occasionally from Ukraine, but he has not been back to the "old country" since his stint teaching English. He's planning on changing that in the summer of 2005 with a family trip to Ukraine and Russia.
Tom can be contacted at:
34 C Shea Avenue
Milford, CT 06460
203-877-8879
thomas_zabel@hotmail.com. Note that there is an underscore between "thomas" and "zabel"