REEESNe 2022 Student Conference

(REEESNe network alums speak at the conference about non-academic research/writing careers)

Are you interested in learning about Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia? Would you like to talk with peers as well as with alumni who have already successfully navigated REEES-related studies and professional paths? In April 2022, the Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies Northeast (REEESNe) network brought together undergraduate and master’s students from institutions across the northeastern U.S. to engage with one another and with professionals experienced in the region.

The conference was hosted by The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University in New Haven, CT beginning on the morning of Friday, April 1 and ending on the afternoon of Saturday, April 2. Planned as a hybrid conference, the event in the end moved entirely online due to Covid-19 measures and illness among staff members. Along with student paper presentations on personal experience with REEES-related work, research, internships, study abroad, etc., the conference included cultural events (a tour of the Russian Icon Museum and performances by Yale’s Russian Chorus and Slavic Chorus), opportunities for student networking, and guest speakers and panels that discussed careers in non-academic REEES fields (focusing on researching/writing and on professionally beneficial opportunities abroad - see schedule below for lists of speakers and check out the video recordings on this page!). 

(REEESNe network alums speak at the conference about experience abroad as a career move)

Apr. 1

9:00 Introduction

9:15-10:45 Student Paper Session I (Literature; Identity Politics; Conflict & Peace Studies)

11:00-12:00 Russian Icon Museum: Virtual Tour and Conversation with Executive Director Kent Russell and Vice President of the Board and NE Russian Studies Alumna Cathy Mannick

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-2:15 Alumni Careers Panel: Researching and Writing for a Living

- Dimiter Kenarov (Middlebury College): Freelance journalist (Esquire, The New Yorker, etc.)

- Emma Scally (College of the Holy Cross): Senior Investment Associate at Partners Capital

- Kellie Rivera (Uni. of New Hampshire, Suffolk University): Senior Counsel at Columbia Care

- Ostap Kin (Long Island University, CUNY Grad Center): Archivist at the Zimmerli Museum (Rutgers Uni.) and Translator

2:30-3:45 Lecture by Journalist Dimiter Kenarov: Navigating the Media in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Apr. 2

8:45-10:15 Student Paper Session II (Politics of Art; REEES beyond Russia; Politics & Economics)

10:30-11:45 Book Presentation by Gene Fishel (Division Chief, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State): The Moscow Factor: U.S. Policy toward Sovereign Ukraine and the Kremlin (forthcoming, Harvard University Press)

12:00-1:15 Lunch with concerts by the Russian Chorus and Slavic Chorus

1:30-2:45 Student Presentation Session (Experiences & Reports from REEES Regions Today; Artistic & Political Identities in REEES Regions)

3:00-4:15 Alumni Careers Panel: ‘Getting There - Professionally Beneficial Opportunities Abroad’

- Barbara Mozdierz (Bucknell University, Yale University): Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Mission to the United Nations New York/U.S. Department of State

- Jennifer Ginsburg (Brandeis University, Columbia University): Assistant Program Officer at the National Endowment for Democracy

- Kate Hardin (Wesleyan University, Yale University): Deloitte Executive Director for Energy and Industrials Research

- Sven Haakanson (University of Alaska, Harvard University): Associate Professor and Curator of North American Anthropology at the Burke Museum, University of Washington; former Executive Director of the Alutiiq Museum