BEN COAKLEY (Russian) ...

CATHERINE JONES (Independent) With the help of a Russian Study Award, Catherine will spend the year 2000 working with various Moscow NGOs--Moscow Helsinki Group, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Prison Reform International. We include a wonderful note sent to us from Catherine (alias Katya) while on a study program in Moscow: Moscow is the most beautiful and the ugliest city that I've ever seen. But is all grows on you. The first time I saw Red Square, I was disappointed. It was cold...there were people selling fake fur hats, and everything was smaller than I had imagined it. Now, I can't walk through it without feeling a sense of awe. As I slide over the packed ice and snow on the uneven cobblestones, I know that Im in the midst of Russia's shrines. That this is here ideologies converge. As St. basil's crumbles, the GUM is vibrant and alive. And Lenin only works part time.

MEREDITH GOOD (Russian [no degree awarded]) As a Graduate Assistant Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREEES), Meredith describes her plans: I'm at the University of Iowa in the (Third World) Development Support graduate program. My area of intent is health care issues in the former Soviet Union, and though not technically third world, the program director was interested in developing a program with the new College of Public Health. Hopefully in a year or so the International College will be up and running, and my program will be a tract of the whole thing.

SEVERIN OMAN (Russian [no degree awarded]) With the help of a Russian Study Award, Severin is a student-actor at Moscow's prestigious Vakhtangov Theatre.

SAGE RATERMAN (Russian). With the help of a Russian Study Award, Sage works with "Serendipity," an American-sponsored organization in Vladimir, Russia, which advises local businesses and provides English-language courses for children and adults.