A native Latvian, Katya holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Latvia and spent a year abroad at the Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan. She developed a passion for international education and now has over 10 years of experience in the field working with international language schools, NGOs, universities, and youth organizations. As… Read More

A native of Los Angeles with Bulgarian roots, Alexandra’s goal as an outreach coordinator is to promote interest in study abroad by expanding SRAS’ reach to university faculty and students. She attended two SRAS programs (in Georgia and Uzbekistan) and wrote several travel articles for the SRAS Family of Sites. After completing her BS in… Read More

Lily graduated with a Major in Politics, a Minor in Geography, and a Five College Certificate in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies from Mount Holyoke College. She studied abroad with SRAS in Bishkek during her junior year, loving it so much that she stayed over the summer with two internships, one of them as… Read More

Originally from Washington, D.C., Kiara holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from DePaul University and an MA in Russian from Middlebury College. Kiara fell in love with the Caucasus region when she first traveled there in 2016 and has now lived in Tbilisi, Georgia for seven years. According to her, what’s best about living abroad… Read More

A native of St. Petersburg, Elena holds a BAs in English Pedagogy and Humanities from St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University. As SRAS’ Administrative Specialist, Elena is responsible for providing overall support to our organization and its various programs and services. In her free time, Elena likes traveling and exploring new places, meeting with friends, and… Read More

Andrei leads our archive research services, performing remote archive research and consultations for researchers around the globe. Andrei has MA degree from West Virginia University in Morgantown, USA. His personal interests are history and literature and research methods in social science. He has years of archival research experience.

Lisa, to the perplexity of her German-rooted North Dakotan family, graduated from Reed College with a BA in Russian Literature. After attending SRAS’s Translation Abroad Program (now part of our Home and Abroad Programs), she worked in Moscow for two years as an in-house translator and as the SRAS Moscow Student Coordinator. Lisa was then… Read More

Josh lived in Moscow from 2003-2022, from when he first arrived to study Russian with SRAS. He is now based in the Salt Lake area in the US. He holds an M.A. in Theatre and a B.A. in History from Idaho State University, where his masters thesis was written on the political economy of Soviet-era… Read More

Renee first visited the Soviet Union in 1990 to study at MGU after graduating from Boston University with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. After working at a technical translation company in Boston, she returned to Moscow in 1992 for permanent residence until 1998. During that time she worked in the Russian financial markets and eventually… Read More