The Advisory Committee of the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures serves the role of engaging OSU alumni and community members with the department. The department appreciates the willingness of Committee members to lend their time, knowledge, and financial support to our continuing efforts to improve the Ohio State Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures. The Committee's members will be students and alumni of the Department who have excelled in a wide variety of careers and pursuits, and who believe that their Slavic and East European languages and cultures education played an important role in their success.
David McVey, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; M.A., Russian Area Studies; M.A., Geography
My time in the Slavic Department taught me to be open to people and experiences. I learned how to be attentive to detail. And I can truly understand texts and communicate with clarity.
I am now applying these skills to the position of Research Administrator for Midwestern University at their Glendale, Arizona campus. I help medical researchers from all over the world coordinate ethical, professional research proposals.
CAPT James G. Connell, Jr., USN (ret.), Ph.D.
What is your current position?
I presently work as Senior Cold War Analyst and Executive Secretary Emeritus of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC) in the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Arlington, VA 22204
What degree in Russian/Slavic studies did you receive?
The Ohio State University: M.A. '69; Ph.D. '73 (both in Slavic Languages and Literatures). Also, B.S., U.S. Naval Academy '61; M.A. (Comparative Literature), University of Georgia '67
How did your Slavic studies impact your career?
Slavic studies provided the foundation for two very fulfilling careers: active-duty Navy: Russian language-related duty in Rome, Munich, Washington, USSR (Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty); and thirty years with the USRJC, nine years in Russia with the remainder in Washington with TDYs to Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltics.
What advice would you give to students studying Russian?
Your most interesting and rewarding career will most likely be in government, particularly in the Foreign Service and intelligence-related agencies.
Michael Corbin
What is your current position?
I’m a Senior International Trade Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
What degree in Russian/Slavic studies did you receive?
I received an M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies from The Ohio State University.
How did your Slavic studies impact your career?
In my capacity as a trade specialist, I worked exclusively on Russian financial services from approximately 1999 until 2013, when the crisis in Ukraine began, and since then I have been the lead for private pensions - helping U.S. companies address market access restrictions around the globe. I developed programs and cooperated with various Russian government ministries and private sector companies to help develop best practices in insurance and private pensions in Russia. For example, I worked closely with the Ministry of Economic Development to develop an Insurance Information Center and participated in discussions with them on landmark private pension legislation passed by the Duma in 2002. In 2017, I was recommended by the Department of Commerce to receive a fellowship to the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and during my nine months there I studied the breakdown of pension systems in Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland and Romania). I also had the opportunity to collaborate with the Kennan Institute and wrote a Kennan Cable on Russian trade with Asia and prepared a blog on Russian government efforts to raise the pension age in 2018.
What advice would you give to students studying Russian?
Studying Russian is difficult but very rewarding. Russian language skills are an important component to having a more sophisticated understanding of one of the more important countries on the globe and this can really help with a career in the private sector or in government. From a career standpoint, I would recommend to students that they combine study of Russian with another academic discipline. Due to the undulations in the political relations between the two countries it is important to have various options, particularly for times like now when there are virtually no government to government and commercial relations have largely ceased.