Alumni

Here you can learn about the career trajectories of many UW-Madison REECAS alumni—undergraduate and graduate certificate students, PhD minor recipients, FLAS fellows, and MA recipients.

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Alum Degree(s) Language(s) Studied Current Position/Affiliation Website
Scott Appleton BA in International Studies and History (2005) Russian, French Senior Intelligence Analyst, Defense Intelligence Agency  
Courtney Blenner J.D. (2011); BA in Political Science; Certificate in REECAS (2004) Hebrew, Russian Financial Advisor, Northwestern Mutual Courtney S Blenner, J.D., CLU, Financial Advisor
Robert L. Cemovich Law (1993); Russian and East European Studies (REES) (1993) Russian Attorney and land tenure consultant in Central Asia, Caucasus and Western CIS Cemovich Law Firm, P.A.
Katia V. Chernyshov MA in REECAS (2013) Russian Government Grants Manager at Howard Brown Health LinkedIn
Ashley Marie De La Paz BA in Russian Language & Literature; International Studies – Culture Track (2015) Russian, Spanish, French North American Language and Culture Ambassador at the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport LinkedIn
Madina Djuraeva PhD in Curriculum & Instruction/World Language Education (2020); MA in Applied English Linguistics (2012); BA in English, Bukhara State University (2009) Korean, Kazakh, Persian, Italian Assistant Researcher, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison LinkedIn
Joshua Dufour MA in REECAS (2015) Kazakh, Russian Fulbright English Language Instructor, South Kazakhstan State Pedagogical University; Collaborator and Community Engagement Coordinator with American Corners Shymkent and Kazakhstan Teachers of English Association (Kaz TEA) LinkedIn
John N. Englesby MA in Slavic Languages & Literature – Russian emphasis (1978); BA in Education, Russian (1976); Certificate in Russian Area Studies Program (1980) Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Polish, Old Church Slavic, French, Germanaret Retired, 2008, from UW-Madison, University Housing & University Health Services, Facilities Management  
Danielle (Ellie) Frazier BA in Russian and International Studies (2015); MA in REECAS (2017) Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Swedish Marketing Assistant & Liaison to The Friends of the Library Foundation, Kanawha County Public Library System (Charleston, West Virginia) LinkedIn
Brooke Harding BA in Geographic Information Systems and Cartography; Certificate in REECAS (2014) Spanish Geographic Information Officer at USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives LinkedIn
Carl Holtman MA in REECAS (2003) Turkish, Azerbaijani, Ottoman Managing Partner, Turca Solutions LinkedIn
MayaLisa Holzman PhD in History; Certificate in REECAS (2016); MA in History (2012) Russian, Polish Independent scholar (former adjunct instructor)  
Justin (Magoon) Jensen BA in Russian Language & Civilization Russian, Spanish US Air Force Intelligence Officer (14N)  
Sheryl Jones BA in History; Certificate in REECAS (2004) Serbo-Croatian Veterinary Technician, Banfield Pet Hospital LinkedIn
Jenny Kaminer BA in Russian (1996) Russian, Spanish Associate Professor of Russian; Chair, Department of German and Russian; Director, Humanities Program–University of California-Davis Faculty Profile
James Krukones PhD in History (1983); MA in History (1975) Russian Associate Academic Vice President and Professor of History, John Carroll University (Cleveland, OH)  
Cecilia Leugers King MA in REECAS (2015) Polish, Russian Graduate Student, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Languages and Literatures, University of Kansas  
Angela Lillethun BA in History, Russian Language; Certificate in Russian & Eastern European Studies (1995) Russian Director, Regional Relations and Volunteer Management, Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association  
Shannon (Tanski) Listopad MA in Transatlantic Studies, Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland); BA in International Studies; Certificates in  German and REECAS (2012) German, Russian, Polish Associate Manager, Client Consulting at Nielsen LinkedIn
Becca Onken BA in History; Certificates in Teaching English as a Second Language and Central European Studies (2013) French, Czech Social Studies Teacher and Model United Nations Coach, Baraboo High School Fellow; Engaging Eurasia Teaching Fellowship (EETF) Program, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard (2020-21) LinkedIn
Mike Panaro MA in REECAS (2015) Russian, Uzbek Retired Army Foreign Area Officer LinkedIn
John Riordan MA in REECAS (2003)   USAID Development Advisor to U.S. Special Operations Command (Tampa, Florida)  
Caroline Savage MA in REECAS and Political Science (2002) Mandarin Chinese Director, Foreign Press Centers, U.S. Department of State; Non-resident Fellow, Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy; Incoming Consul General in Almaty, Kazakhstan, TED Aug 2021 LinkedIn
Nick Seay MA in REECAS (2018); BA in History (2014) Persian/Tajik, Uzbek PhD Student, Department of History, Ohio State University Graduate Student Profile
Karina Silver Masters in International Public Affairs (MIPA); Certificate in REECAS (2006) French Political Officer, U.S. Embassy Vilnius  
Jennifer Tishler PhD in Slavic Languages and Literature (1999) Russian, German, Polish Associate Director, CREECA, UW-Madison LinkedIn
Tom Van Rooy MA in REECAS (2012) Russian, Turkish NATO Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) Coordinator, NATO Mission Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq) LinkedIn
Dan Singleton MA in REECAS (2014) Russian, Turkish Army Attache, U.S. Embassy-Sofia LinkedIn