Current Majors & Minors

Elliot Cave ('13) majors in Russian Language & Literature.  He spent a year in Vladivostok before entering Davidson and a semester & summer in St. Petersburg during his sophomore year.

Sun Dragas ('13) majors in Political Science, with a Russian minor. She spent a semester in St. Petersburg last year.

Franny Goffinet ('13)  minors in Russian and studied with the Middlebury program in Yaroslavl', Russia last spring.

Tyler Layman ('13) majors in Russian Studies and spent the 2011-2012 academic year in St. Petersburg with CIEE.  He is working on a senior thesis about the new Russian technology center, Skolkovo.

Hugo Spaulding ('14) majors in Russian Studies with a focus on economics.  He will spend this summer at Middlebury's intensive Russian language school followed by the 2012-2013 academic year in Moscow with the Middlebury program.

Kelsey Wilson ('13) is majoring in Russian Literature, with a thesis on Russian science fiction.  She spent the 2011-2012 academic year with the Middlebury program in Moscow.  

Russian Program Alumni

Caroline Woodward ('12) majored in Russian Literature.  She received honors for her senior thesis, an ambitious project on Iury Olesha's Envy, which combined translation theory, Bakhtinian theory, Dostoevsky studies, and a hands-on translation project.  She completed Middlebury's Davis School of Russian in summer 2010 and spent her junior year abroad with the Middlebury program in Moscow. She returned to Middlebury in summer 2012  and plans a career using her Russian expertise in international relations.

Jensen Bigelow ('11) studied Russian at Davidson, participated in the Davidson in Moscow program in 2009, and went on to spend a semester there in spring 2010. Enthusiastic to improve his Russian, he stayed on that summer as an intern at the American Chamber in Moscow.

Vitaly Radsky ('11) majored in Political Science and took taken several Russian courses at Davidson. With support from Dean Rusk and Abernathy grants, he and his brother Alex Radksy ('11) spent seven weeks in Belarus in 2010 researching the effect of public (government) funding of national athletics on the living standard and success of athletes. The project focused specifically on Belarusian wrestlers, so he spent time at three national team training camps in and around Minsk. Vitaly studyied under a U.S. department of State "Critical Language" scholarship in Azerbaijan and continues to work and study there.

Alex Radsky ('11) With support from Dean Rusk and Abernathy grants, he and his brother Vitaly Radksy ('11) spent seven weeks in Belarus in 2010 researching the effect of public (government) funding of national athletics on the living standard and success of athletes. The project focused specifically on Belarusian wrestlers, so he spent time at three national team training camps in and around Minsk.  He is currentlt a graduate student in Political Science at Ohio State.

Daniel Bush ('10): Daniel spent his junior year in Moscow with the Middlebury program.  In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Frontis W. Johnston Award through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies for his senior thesis "Boris Pasternak's A Twin in the Clouds."  After graduation he returned to Moscow for a year to teach.  He will enter a Ph.D. program in Slavic Languages & Literatures at Stanford University in fall 2012.

Thomas Christy ('10): Thomas studied at Middlebury's Davis School of Russian and spent a semester in Yaroslavl', Russia. He completed a thesis on Russian's "Principles of Safe Living" curriculum for a major in Russian Studies through Davidson's Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. He is currently living in the Charlotte area, taking pre-medical courses, serving as Fire chief in Davidson, and contemplating a degree in Emergency Management.

Meryl Hooten ('10) majored in History and studied Russian at Davidson for two years.  She now is now putting those skills to work as a Secondary Education TEFL Volunteer for the Peace Corps in Ukraine.

Amy Freeman ('07) majored in History with a Russian minor and  spent a summer in Moscow with the Davidson program.  In 2010 she earned a masters degree in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University and now  serves as an analyst at the Emerging Threats Project in Washington, D.C.

Luci Hague ('08)  majored in Political Science with a minor in Russian, including a summer in Moscow.  After graduation she  worked at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

Mike Wellman ('07) minored in Russian and spent a summer in Moscow during his time at Davidson. He works for a financial consulting firm in Washington, D.C.

Lee Ballard ('07) majored in Music and  studied Russian while at Davidson.  After graduation, he spent a year as a Fulbright assistant in Germany and then earned a masters degree in linguistics from Florida State.  He is currently putting his Russian to good use,  serving in the Peace Corps in Ukraine.

Cristi (Hillis) Slate ('06) majored in Russian Studies through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.  She now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Russia, working for the non-profit CoMission for Children at Risk, helping support Russia's orphans.

Sarah Robinson ('06) majored in Russian Studies and completed a thesis on Chaikovsky.  She spent a junior semester abroad in St. Petersburg and attended Middlebury's intensive summer Russian School after graduation.  She is currently production coordinator at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.

Kevin Bell ('05) majored in Spanish with a comparative Spanish-Russian thesis. During his Davidson career, he spent a summer in Moscow and another summer at Middlebury's immersion Russian School. He completed a tour with the U.S. Army as an officer in Afghanistan and is now a graduate student in Middle Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Megan (McDonald) Gilmore ('05) majored in Biophysics and took numerous Russian language and literature courses during her years at Davidson. After graduation she spent six months teaching English in St. Petersburg before entering a Ph.D. program in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins.

Susannah Powell ('04) majored in Political Science with a minor in French. She spent a semester in Moscow through Middlebury and another summer there with the Davidson Program. After graduation she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine. She is currently a Russian Linguist at Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.

Tim Westover ('04) majored in English and took numerous courses in Russian language and literature, including a summer in Moscow.  He works as a software developer near Atlanta.