Welcome Back for the New Academic Year!
We’re glad to welcome everyone back to our department and are excited to welcome some brand-new faces!
Dr. Sunnie Rucker-Chang joins us as Associate Professor of Slavic. Dr. Rucker-Chang has previously held tenure-track and tenured positions at the University of Cincinnati and Florida State University. This fall, Dr. Rucker-Chang will be teaching an online section of our popular vampires course, Slavic 2230.99.
We also welcome Dr. Yana Hashamova back to Columbus after her year’s leave. Dr. Hashamova is teaching in the new GE with a brand-new course that will examine and compare the experiences of Russian and East European ethnic and racial minorities in their respective countries and African Americans in the US regarding racialization and marginalization through cultural and social constructs. She will also chair the Graduate Studies Committee as well as our search for a tenure-track assistant professor of Indigenous Siberian Studies. Stay tuned for more news!
Lilia Caserta joins us as a Lecturer of Russian. She will be teaching different levels of Russian language courses as well as courses on Russian literature and film this upcoming academic year. In addition to Russian, Lilia also specializes in Tatar art, culture, and literature.
We’re also thrilled to welcome our 2022 cohort of graduate students!
Irina Baskova comes to us by way of Brigham Young University where she completed her MA in Teaching English as a second or foreign language.
Andrey Ridling completed his BA in Russian Language, Culture, and Literature at the University of South Carolina and will begin his studies in the new Russian for the Professions MA program here at Ohio State.
Siobhán Seigne completed her BA in Russian at the University of Rochester and will enter the integrated MA/PhD program with a focus on feminist literary criticism and Russian culture.
Enes Tastan joins us after finishing his MA in Russian Language and Literature at St. Petersburg State University and has interests in Russian linguistics and 19th century literature.
Michelle Verbitskaya has an MA from the University of Central Florida in Teaching English as a second or foreign language and will focus on Second Language Acquisition with an emphasis on writing here at Ohio State.
Lejla Veskovic joins us from the University of Sarajevo, where she completed her MA in Russian Language and Literature, and PhD in South Slavic Literature. Lejla will also explore popular culture, politics and literature in the former Yugoslavia here at Ohio State.
