Renee Stillings, Director
Renee first visited the Soviet Union in 1990 to study at MGU 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 in the Russian financial markets and finally founded The School of Russian and Asian Studies as well as co-founded Alinga Consulting Group. She has traveled extensively in and continues to travel to Russia, Central Asia, and the Baltic countries. She is a board member of the US-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England and active in 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 M.A. in Theatre and a B.A. in History from Idaho State University. He has lived in Russia ever since. After working as an 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 leads our Translation Abroad Program. 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 Communications Consultant to Alinga Consulting Group, and General Editor for the US-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England.

Lisa Horner, Program Development, 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 Translation Abroad Program, she went on to accept positions with SRAS and  Alinga Consulting Group. Lisa was promoted within SRAS and is leading our student and university relations efforts, helping to develop new programs and partnerships, and to ensure that student feedback is collected and used to help improve our programs. She studied previously at Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg and is an avid fan of badminton.

Andrei Nesterov, Writer, Moscow Student Coordinator
Andrei Nesterov has reported on political and social issues for the Russian press as well as American outlets such as Russian Life, Worldpress.org, and Triangle Free Press. He has travelled Russia extensively and penned many stories on the "real Russia" which lies beyond the capital and major cities. Andrei graduated from Ural State University (journalism) and Irkutsk State Linguistic University (English). He studied public policy and journalism at Duke University on a Muskie Fellowship and went on to study TESOL and teach Russian at West Virginia University. He is currently working on an MA from St. Petersburg State in International Relations. Andrei contributes news, feature stories, and language resources to the SRAS site, and is an overall linguistics and research resource. He additionally helps coordinate activities for our students in Moscow.

Elena Varshavskaya, Advisor, Program Oversight
Elena holds a Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Art at the State Academy of Art in Moscow. Having worked for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg as a researcher and lecturer for over two decades, Elena moved to the US where she now teaches art history at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Eastern Connecticut State University. Her course offerings embrace European, Russian and Asian art with the emphasis on the early 20th century Russian art and Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. A published author and an exhibition curator, at SRAS Elena organizes and teaches the program Art in Russia hosted by the Hermitage each summer.

Kendje Aitikeeva, Advisor, Bishkek Coordinator
Kendje holds an MA in Linguistics from Kyrgyz Humanitarian University and a BA in Teaching English from Kyrgyz English College. She is also a certified teacher of Russian as a Foreign Language. She has traveled extensively, including to the United States, and enjoys meeting people participating in cross-cultural projects. Kendje co-founded and has served as the director of the London School of Bishkek since 1998 and has been involved in education in the former Soviet Union since 1986. She now serves as an advisor to SRAS on Central Asia and oversees and manages our Central Asian programs.

Alina Bogomolova, Novosibirsk Student Coordinator
Alina graduated from Novosibirsk State University in 2006 with a degree in Russian Language and Literature. She works with foreign students in the International Relations Office of Novosibirsk State University.

She is responsible for coordinating Russian as a Foreign Language courses and cultural events at NSU and exchange programs between NSU and foreign partner universities. She is one of the coordinators of student programs between NSU and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). She is very enthusiastic about her work, because it’s not just a job, but also cross-cultural communication with people from all over the world.

AATSEEL: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages exists to advance the study and promote the teaching of Slavic and East European languages, literatures, and cultures on all educational levels

ASEEES: The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), a nonprofit, non-political, scholarly society, is the leading private organization in the world dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about the former Soviet Union (including Eurasia) and Eastern and Central Europe. ASEEES, known as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies until 2010, supports teaching, research, and publication relating to the peoples and territories within this area.

USRCCNE: The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England, Inc. (USRCCNE) is a non-profit business organization for companies and professional individuals involved with economic activity in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union.

SRAS Director, Renee Stillings, is also a co-founder and partner of Alinga Consulting Group, a Moscow-based company active in the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia and the Association of European Businesses.