The School of Russian and Asian Studies:
a diverse and qualified teamThe School of Russian and Asian Studies is a team of consultants and advisers who are dedicated to education and educational opportunities in the Russian Federation and Central Asia. They have studied within the Russian educational system and have worked closely with Russian universities for several years to identify programs of interest and value to international students. Renee Stillings, Director
Renee first visited the Soviet Union in 1990 after graduating from Boston University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. After working at a technical translation company in Boston, she returned to Moscow in 1992 for permanent residence until 1998. During that time she worked as an independent consultant and founded The School of Russian and Asian Studies. During this time she also worked in the Russian financial markets and in 1999 she co-founded Alinga Consulting Group, a Moscow-based provider of business support services, including audit, accounting & payroll, legal and HR. Renee continues to travel frequently to Russia. She has traveled extensively in Russia, Central Asia and the Baltic countries. She is a board member of the US-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England and she and her companies are active members of several Russia-oriented business and academic organizations. Josh Wilson, Asst. Director and General Editor
Josh first came to Russia in 2003 as an SRAS student after earning an MA in theatre and a BA in history from Idaho State University. He has been permanently based in Russia ever since. After working briefly as freelance English teacher, writer, and translator, Josh was hired by SRAS to assist in developing several new initiatives. Josh now manages the SRAS website, assists in program development, and coordinates student services for Moscow. He is also the editor of the SRAS newsletter, primary author of The Library, and editor-in-chief for Vestnik: The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies. In addition, he serves as the Communications Director of Alinga Consulting Group, a Moscow-based provider of business support services, and serves as the web content developer and editor for the US-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England. Lisa Horner, Student Relations
Lisa, to the perplexity of her German-rooted family, graduated from Reed College with a B.A. in Russian Literature. After attending SRAS's Language as a Career program (now part of the Russian Studies Semester program) and serving an internship with SRAS doing translations and writing articles, she went on to accept a position with SRAS partner company Alinga Consulting Group as a Client Relations Manager. In addition to this, she is now working for SRAS to help us coordinate student programs and activities and follow up with students to ensure that their feedback helps us to improve our programs. She studied previously at Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg and is an avid fan of badminton. Natalia Rostova, Consultant
Born in Samara (on the Volga River) and raised in Moscow, Natalia worked from 1992-2004 as Senior Manager of the International Students' Office at Moscow State University. She graduated from the Ufa Aviation Institute (Bashkiria). Fluent in English, Natalia loves to travel and has visited several foreign countries both as a representative of the university and for pleasure. She particularly enjoys meeting new people and the opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics with them. Natalia assists in advising many of our students looking to study in Russia. Sergei Pshenitsyn, St. Petersburg Student Coordinator
Sergei holds a Ph.D. (кандидат наук) from St. Petersburg State University (SPbGU) and a Master’s degree from Birmingham University in England. He has taught courses in translation studies and linguistics. His main research interest lies in the cultural and communicative aspects of translation and interpreting and American/Russian cross-cultural studies. He is also a Junior Faculty Development Program (Fulbright) Fellow and spent a year at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Sergei is coordinating SRAS student services in St. Petersburg and will be contributing to the development of this site. Svetlana Volik, St. Petersburg Internship Coordinator
Svetlana has her Masters in the History of Fine Arts from the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. She continues her post-graduate studies there, focusing on the early period of German Expressionism. Svetlana is very active in the museum and cultural life in St. Petersburg and since 1995 has been working as a tour guide. She has developed several specialized tours focused on art, history, and literature. Svetlana works with our student groups in St. Petersburg on cultural and excursion programming and coordinates our internship placements. Andrei Nesterov, Contributing Writer, Coordinator
Andrei Nesterov has written stories on political and social issues for newspapers and magazines in Russia and also for some American media outlets such as Worldpress.org, Triangle Free Press, and Russian Life. Andrei has travelled extensively across Russia and has penned many stories on the "real Russia" which lies beyond the capital and major cities. He is interested in covering social issues in different countries around the world. Andrei graduated from Ural State University (journalism) and Irkutsk State Linguistic University (English) and studied public policy and journalism at Duke University on a Muskie Fellowship. From 2007-2009 Andrei will be studying TESOL in the Department of Foreign Languages at West Virginia University and also teaching Russian. Andrei contributes news, feature stories, and language resources to the SRAS site, and is an overall linguistics resource for us. Nikita Ilukhin, PR & Communications Consultant
Nikita is an expert in new media. He knows every corner of the network. Nikita graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University Faculty of Sociology majoring in Communication Technologies and holds a Ph.D. degree in the same field. He contributes to SRAS by creating special projects aimed at promoting the company as well as works on the new concept of SRAS web-site and internet communications strategy. Former Interns: Sarah Kapp, Intern, 2006-7.
Sarah Kapp holds a BA in Russian Studies and Comparative Literature from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Passionate about Russian literature since high school, she began to study the Russian language in college and completed thesis work on notions of identity in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. Sarah studied Russian in Moscow through SRAS and served an internship with the school as a research assistant, translator, writer, and with SRAS's partner company Alinga Consulting Group as an in-company English teacher. As of the end of her internship, she planned to enter graduate school for further studies in Russian literature and language. Olga Dmitraschenko, Contributing Writer
Olga graduated from an accelerated Moscow public high school program with a silver medal (magna cum laude). She then entered Moscow State University as an international relations major. She worked part-time for SRAS, primarily helping to develop the "Resources" section of the site. Her projects included "Olga's Blog" (the founding author) and assisting with "Library" entries on topics of modern culture. She hopes to become a specialist in international relations and communication. | 
