The Slavic Connexion
Your Hosts
-
Taylor
Taylor has hosted 6 episodes.
Taylor is currently pursuing a dual J.D. and M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her background includes a B.A. in Global Affairs from UT San Antonio with minors in Russian and Linguistics. She intends to work in energy law because she wants to make the world more efficient and sustainable while working with sophisticated clients, and her “dream job” would ideally expect her to utilize multiple languages (especially English and Russian) in the workplace.
-
Misha
Misha has hosted 18 episodes.
Mykhaylo (Misha) Simanovskyy is a first-year graduate student pursuing a dual Master’s degree in Global Policy Studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at UT Austin. He obtained a B.S. in Political Science from Texas Christian University in 2021. Being a native of Donetsk, Ukraine, Misha is passionate about researching Russian foreign policy in its Near Abroad and the Middle East, US-Russia relations, and Ukrainian politics. He is a native speaker of Russian and Ukrainian and speaks Arabic and Polish at an intermediate level. After graduating from UT, Misha aspires to work in diplomacy, pursuing improvement of US-Russia relations and conflict resolution in Ukraine.
-
Nick
Nick has hosted 6 episodes.
Nicholas Pierce is a native-born Texan, completing a M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. His academic focus is on the Russian language and Russian history, at the moment focusing on the Russian Empire and processes of internal colonization in comparison to the American frontier experience. This semester he also had the opportunity to work on a project revolving around historical narratives of disinformation within the Global Disinformation Lab at UT. In the future, he hopes to further explore the legacy of Russian imperial ideology and the center-periphery relationship in the Russian context.
-
Eliza
Eliza has hosted 5 episodes.
Eliza is a second-year graduate student in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at UT. Her research interests include conceptions of prestige and belonging in cultural spaces, the malleability of white identity, and the co-optation of origin stories and myth as a rhetorical strategy. Outside the department, she practices Krav Maga, reads a lot of science fiction, tries to get people from the department to hang out with her, and spends time with her cat, Raskolnikov.
-
-
Sergio
Sergio has hosted 13 episodes.
Sergio is a born-and-raised Austinite with a B.A. in philosophy from St. Edward’s University and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law. Prior to graduate school, Sergio was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at UT Austin in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. A native speaker of Romanian, Sergio primarily researches fascism and religion in interwar Romania.
-
Cullan
Cullan has hosted 30 episodes.
Cullan grew up in Boston and has a B.A. from the University of Vermont in History and Political Science. He is now pursuing a master's degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include Czech history, 19th and 20th century Central Europe, uses of digital consumer media as tools for public history, national identity, and what do those demanding "historically accurate media" even mean? Before moving to Austin, Cullan worked in Vermont both as a paralegal and trivia host, which are critical experiences for any good podcast host.
-
Faith
Faith has hosted 1 episode.
Faith VanVleet is a M.A. student at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and received her B.A. from Baylor University. There she wrote a thesis examining the treatment of communist monuments in Poland in the present day. In 2022, she received a Fulbright grant to Poland, where she spent a year teaching university students in Wałbrzych. Her interests center on Poland’s communist history, politics of memory and monuments, and studying the Polish language. She enjoys playing the cello, learning new languages, and exploring folk costumes of East Europe in her free time.
Retired Hosts
-
Lera
Lera has hosted 46 episodes.
Lera, while born in Tiraspol, Moldova, was happily raised in the suburbs of South-Eastern Pennsylvania and the land of Wawa. After getting her B.A. in Japanese from Penn State, she spent the next 6 years bouncing around between Japan, the DMV area, and Pittsburgh before finally landing in Texas to start her dual-degree Master's program in Global Policy Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at UT. Her research interests include U.S.-Russia relations, foreign diplomacy, grassroots exchange, and protest/dissent in Russia. Her limited free time interests include showing everyone pictures of her two cats, engaging in the Fast and the Furious franchise discourse, and never finishing any of her knitting projects.
B.A. in Japanese, minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Penn State University
INTERESTS
Post-Soviet Russia, Putinism, grassroots cultural exchange programs, U.S.-Russia relations, foreign diplomacy, national security, relationship between Russia's government and its citizens, Russian political protests -
Katherine
Katherine has hosted 2 episodes.
Katherine, originally from Houston, Texas, is a junior at UT Austin double-majoring in International Relations and Global Studies along with Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. An avid learner and lover of Europe, Katherine desired to demystify and learn more about Russia, one of the most complex nations within the region and world, long before attending UT Austin. Eastern and Central Europe hold special places in her heart, as her family lineage hails from the Czech Republic. In her free time, Katherine enjoys reading non-fiction books, learning languages such as Russian and German, and hiking.
-
Tom
Tom has hosted 47 episodes.
Tom is wrapping up a dual Master’s in Russian Studies and Global Policy at UT Austin. He is concentrating on the strategic interaction between global powers, with a focus on the future relationship between the United States and Russia. Tom’s attraction to cybersecurity buds from the growing use of non-military levers to conduct geo-political warfare, a strategy assumed to proliferate in the coming years. Tom graduated from Bowdoin College in 2016 with a degree in history. He spends way too much of his time on The Slavic Connexion but as one of the co-creators, how can he not?
-
Matt
Matt has hosted 58 episodes.
Matthew is a native Texan from the Houston area. He's attended George Washington University, majoring in Russian Language and Literature and has spent time in Russia on a Fulbright scholarship. He is currently at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing a dual master’s degree in Global Policy Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. His research interests include civic education, democratization in the Post-Soviet space, contemporary Russian literature and US-Russian relations. He can be seen riding his bike all over UT's 40 acres.
-
Lauren
Lauren has hosted 5 episodes.
Lauren is a fourth-year International Relations and Geography double major minoring in Russian Language and African Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Currently, Lauren works as a TA and research assistant in the History Department, focusing on areas within Sub-Saharan Africa. Outside of work and class, Lauren works on environmental management and sustainability initiatives in central and southern Texas, and on public education policy in Houston, where she grew up. In other words, she totally rocks.
-
Taylor
Taylor has hosted 8 episodes.
Taylor Ham is a first-year M.A. student at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. She received her Master of Global Policy Studies degree from the LBJ School, where she studied national security, counterterrorism, and intelligence. Before attending the University of Texas, she led the underwriting department at a bank in Waco, Texas where she worked as an Assistant Vice President and Credit Officer. She hopes to build upon the professional leadership and analytical skills gained in that role and apply them to a career in foreign policy and intelligence. Taylor is specifically interested in studying Russian foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly in relation to Iran and Russia’s intelligence operations and asymmetric warfare used in ongoing conflicts.
-
Milena
Milena has hosted 8 episodes.
Milena is a junior at UT Austin majoring in Eastern European Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and the Persian language. She is highly interested in studying cultures ranging from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to Iran and Central Asia. Milena is especially interested in the phenomenons of nation-building, national identity, and inter-ethnic conflict that are so problematic in this region. Ukraine especially fascinates her because of its important geopolitical position, complex cultural identity, and its ongoing debates about nation-building and democracy.
Critical Language Scholarship
https://clscholarship.org/alumni/profiles/milena-djordjevic-kisacanin
Alumni Profile: Milena Djordjevic-Kisacanin
-
Katya
Katya has hosted 8 episodes.
Katya grew up in Northern Virginia and frequently spent summers in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), her paternal homeland in Northeastern Siberia. Her current research interests include revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures in Russia, current tensions relating to Russian (ethno)nationalism and minority group (ethno)nationalism, effects of globalization on rural populations, and impacts of state-sanctioned environmental racism. Her non-research interests include tending to her plant children, collecting insects, eating pickles, and giving strangers unsolicited podcast recommendations.
-
Samantha
Samantha has hosted 7 episodes.
Samantha is from San Antonio and is particularly proud of being a Central Texas local. She attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate, earning BAs in History and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, with minors in Comparative Literature and Women’s and Gender Studies. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies as well as a portfolio in LGBTQ+ Studies. For the purposes of her master’s degree, she is interested in Serbia-Croatian language, literary translation, literature from the Balkans and Central/Eastern Europe, and comparative feminist/queer issues. Outside of class, she reads whatever she has time for, goes to see old movies at the Austin Film Society, bikes, forgets about her pickling and preserving projects, and picks up random handicrafts.
-
Tracy
Tracy has hosted 4 episodes.
Tracy is originally from Minnesota and has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from The University of Texas at Austin. She is still at UT-Austin pursuing a dual master’s degree in Global Policy Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Her research interests include Czech history and culture, international food systems, democratization in Central and Eastern Europe, and the politics of corruption. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, walking for hours at a time, and playing the trombone.
-
Graham
Graham has hosted 2 episodes.
Graham is a senior from Lakewood Ranch, Florida currently studying Economics and Government at UT, while also pursuing an undergraduate Certificate in Security Studies from the Clements Center. Academically, his interests include foreign affairs, diplomacy, and national security. Personally, his interests include sports, playing the guitar, movies, traveling, and doing anything outdoors. After graduation, he intends pursue a career that ties together both foreign policy and business in addition to eventually attending graduate school. On campus, he is the President of the International Affairs Society. Graham has one brother, Ethan, who is fifteen months younger and attends the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He also has a yellow lab at home named Callie. Additionally, he speaks fluent Spanish as his mother is from Spain. This year, Graham is excited to attend the biweekly coffees and participate in the various events the Clements Center puts on.
-
Zack
Zack has hosted 9 episodes.
Born in the waning days of Cold War, Zack grew up in the waters of southern California. While not surfing, swimming, fishing, he enjoyed political history, geopolitical affairs and exploring the depths of US-Russia relationship. Obtaining a B.A. in Political Science from San Jose State University, he examined the Soviet-Afghan war and the ‘Foreign Fighter Phenomenon’ seen during the conflict. To date, he is pursuing a M.A. with the University of Texas at Austin in Russian, Eastern European, Eurasian Studies, (CREEES) with a focus on rural political activism in Russia and Western Business investment in Russia. Zack has traveled in western Russia and looks forward future trips, including more pelmeni, banya visits and a continued dialogue with Russian people!