Renee Underwood

Reneé Underwood
MA, Russian and East European Studies, 2008
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship

"My Russian language study was greatly enhanced by a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. I am a major in the U.S. Army, and will use my skills regularly in my next assignment."

Reneé Underwood spent the summer of 2008 living with a Russian host family in Irkutsk, Russia, in Siberia. Reneé studied Russian for six weeks at the Irkutsk State Linguistic University where she advanced her language proficiency in Russian, which she will use in her position as a major in the U.S. Army. In her free time, she visited Lake Baikal, the deepest fresh water lake in the world. She welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the culture of the Buryat people who live on the east side of the lake.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships are distributed by the International Institute’s centers. Reneé received her fellowship through the Center for Russian and East European Studies.