Alumni(ae) Profiles

For over 50 years, the University of Michigan has been training Russian and East European specialists.

Many alumni/ae from CREES and other degree programs have gone on to have distinguished academic careers; 10 have directed area studies centers at major U.S. universities.

CREES-affiliated University of Michigan alumni/ae have also pursued careers in government (CIA; Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State Departments; NSC; NSF; U.S. Army; U.S. Forest Service); the non-profit sector (IREX, Human Rights Watch, Open Society Institute, Oxfam, Kennan Institute, NDI, CIEE, American Councils for International Education); the for-profit sector (GM, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup); and international organizations (EBRD, OSCE, United Nations, World Bank).

Alumni/ae Updates

Profiles

CREES Alumna Martha Loerke (MA REES '90) offers advice on career paths for areas studies students

Martha Loerke (MA REES '90), director of Scholarship Programs at the Open Society Institute/Soros Foundations, came to Ann Arbor to share her insights on career opportunities.

Her own career has included work as program coordinator for Senior Fulbright Fellowships at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and as program manager for Muskie/Freedom Support Act Graduate Fellowships at the Institute for International Education. In 1994, she became deputy director of Network Scholarship Programs at the Open Society Institute/Soros Foundations; in 1995, she was appointed director of this OSI department. In this position, Martha oversees OSI programs offering 800 humanities and social science scholarships annually in over 30 countries via open, merit-based competitions. She directs offices in New York and London, and coordinates global program administration with 30 local partners. Although she focused primarily on countries of the former Soviet Union during her career with CIES, IIE, Fulbright, and the Open Society Institute, her work is currently expanding to include Burma, Cambodia, and Laos; as well as Palestine, Turkey, and Afghanistan. She is also starting to look at climate change fellowships for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Listen to her CREES Brown Bag lecture (February 4, 2009) on "Career Paths and Opportunities for Students Specializing in Area Studies": audio

CREES Alumna Stephanie DeGroote (BA REES '85) returns to Ann Arbor

Following completion of her BA in REES, Stephanie DeGroote traveled to Moscow, where she worked as a free-lance journalist and with ABC News and witnessed the final years and break up of the Soviet Union. 

Currently a producer with Sky News in London, she returned to the University of Michigan this year as a 2008-09 Knight-Wallace Fellow. During her visit, she gave a CREES Brown Bag lecture on January 14, 2009.

Listen to her lecture, "Fear and Loathing in Moscow: Covering 11 Time Zones and 15 Republics during Times of Great Change, 1989-1995": audio

Alumni(ae) Photos

CREES Program Manager Marysia Ostafin (L),
with Dianne Beal (REES BA '79) and Jildy Gross (REES MA '77),
at Diane's art gallery in Paris, Galerie Blue Square.

CREES Director Michael D. Kennedy and Bettrand Metton (MA REES '07)
at a reception to honor graduates in April 2007. Bettrand is currently pursuing a
PhD in the University of Michigan's Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History.