Alumni Spotlights

Bianna Golodryga

BA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (Summer 2000)

Co-host, “CBS This Morning”; recipient of 2018 UT College of Liberal Arts Pro Bene Meritis Award
Previously: Bianna began her television career as a bureau producer from the New York Stock Exchange for CNBC, where she produced live coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As a reporter and anchor, Golodryga covered the Boston Marathon Bombings and the 2016 election. Throughout her career, she has reported for ABC, Yahoo!, CBS, CNN and more. Presently, she is Senior Global News Analyst at CNN.

Stephanie Elizondo Griest

BA Post-Soviet Studies, 1997

Stephanie is a globetrotting author from Corpus Christi. Her five award-winning books include Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough; and All the Agents & Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. Borderlands. She has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC Travel, The Believer, and Oxford American. Her distinctions include a Henry Luce Scholarship to China, a Margolis Award for Social Justice Reporting, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Prize. Currently Associate Professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, she has performed on five continents in capacities ranging from a Moth storyteller to a literary ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Visit her website at www.StephanieElizondoGriest.com.

Brenda Gonzalez

MA, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2016)

As of 2020: Clerking with the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), focusing on the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Moldova. In her final year at Tulane University Law School.

Previously: Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Tomsk, Russia (2017–18) 

Brian Selman

MA, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (Spring 2017) BA, Russian Language and Culture (Spring 2014)

As of 2021: Vice Consul at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India (2019-2021)

Previously: Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (2018-19); Senior Study Abroad Advisor, Texas Tech University (2017-2018); EFL Teacher, Moscow, Russia (2014-2015)

In his own words: "After demonstrating an Advanced level in speaking/reading in Russian (3/3), I used the Professional Development Funding from CREEES to fly to Washington D.C. for an Oral Assessment with the U.S. Department of State for the Foreign Service Consular Fellows Program. 

The Oral Assessment included an intense memo-writing exercise, a test of my job-knowledge, and a 75-minute interview with two current mid-level Foreign Service Officers. 

After passing the exam, receiving my medical and security clearances, and receiving my required training, I served as a Russian-language Consular Fellow in Poland. After gaining a year of job experience on my Limited Non-career Appointment, I was able to secure full-time career employment with the Foreign Service as a Foreign Service Officer. Thank you CREEES for investing in me and giving me the opportunity to realize my life-long goal!"

Michelle Kelso

MA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2001)

As of 2016: Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Georgetown University
Previously: Directed a Romanian non-profit, the Association for Dialogue and Civic Education, which focused on tolerance and democracy building (2005–2010; and made a documentary film, "Hidden Sorrows: The Persecution of Romanian Gypsies During WWII," that has screened in seven countries, numerous film festivals, and aired on three national television channels (2005). She has also been a photo stringer for USA Today and the Associated Press. 

Michelle has also consulted for the Council of Europe, USAID, non-profits, Holocaust compensation programs, as well as the Romanian government. She has been the recipient of several prestigious national awards, including two Fulbright fellowships.

Lance C. Erickson

MA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2001)

As of 2019: Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer, Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy Astana
First job after graduation: Ukraine Country Director, Sidvim, Inc., Kyiv, Ukraine
Previously: Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow (2015–17); Press Attaché, U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria (2013–15); Assistant Director, Center for Slavic and East European Studies, The Ohio State University (2007–12); Assistant Director for Student Services, Russian and East European Institute, Indiana University (2005–07)

Maria Rassokhina

MA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2014)

As of 2015: Assistant, Financial Integrity Group, International Monetary Fund (Washington, DC)
First job after graduation: Program Assistant, Eurasia Foundation (Washington, DC), US-Russia Social Expertise Exchange (SEE) and the US-Russia University Partnership Program (UPP)
Previously: Regulatory Representation Assistant for Russia and Holland, Emergo Group (Austin); Research Assistant, St. Petersburg City AIDS Center (Russia)

Andy Bamber

MA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2009)

As of 2016: Founder and Director of Business Development of independent consulting firm, CONTENT COLAB
First job after graduation: Business Development Manager, Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia
Previously: Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan (2003-2005); developed the founding corporate social responsibility (CSR) report for Kazakh-French uranium mining joint venture KATCO, in partnership with London-based consultancy Edward-Austin (early 2016); returned to Kazakhstan to focus on growing his consulting firm (December 2016)

Eliot Stone

MA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2012)

As of 2019: Account Executive, MineralSoft; founder of TravelTuva and Cultural Transformations LLC; author, forthcoming ethnography exploring the lives and careers of Tuvan musicians, artists, and scholars; also works to bring the Tuvan throat-singing group Alash to tour the US every year
Previously: Program Specialist, Texas Historical Commission; conducted anthropological fieldwork in Tuva based on a long-standing interest in Tuvan music, during which he developed fluency in the Russian language, gained deep understandings of Tuvan culture and history, and became a skilled Tuvan vocalist, receiving multiple awards in Tuva for his performances (2011, 2013)

Katherine Alberti

BA, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies (2014)

As of 2017: Internship at Culture.pl, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland (3 months)

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