PLEASE BRIEFLY DESCRIBE YOUR OWN CAREER PATH?
I majored in Russian and graduation I went on a semester program in Moscow and studied Russian for four months. I spent another two years working in Moscow as a contractor for the US State Department. It was a great first job out of college and I learned a lot of Russian, I learned as much as I worked. It was a great experience. So, I learned quite a bit and matured, which was the best part of my experience. I came back in 1991 and received my Masters in Russian Studies at Georgetown University, which was also very beneficial.

After my Masters, I worked for the government for two years as a Research Analyst for the Office of Technology Assessment and I worked on research projects. The common thread was that they were all jobs where I learned a lot. After that I enrolled in Syracuse University where I am currently working on a Masters in Library Science, and that's kind of a long story as to why I did that. I am six credits shy of a degree, but right now I'm taking time off to stay home with my son Owen. In addition to staying home I also work part time for a consulting company doing research, but mainly my time is spent raising Owen.

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THE PROGRAM IN RUSSIA?
It was posted outside of my Russian professor’s office. She is still teaching at Trinity and we are still friends. I thought she was probably one of the best professors I had, she got me very interested in the topic, just an excellent professor. I am very glad that I have been able to maintain my relationship with her. The program was run through a government contractor. You had to apply for the job, the hardest part of the application process was the security clearance which took about a year.

HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE LIVING IN RUSSIA?
I was 23, 24 and it was really just one big party. We worked fairly hard, 40-60 hour weeks, but during the off time the Americans who worked there were really pretty tightly knit. There was a lot of camaraderie, a lot of esprit de corps, which tends to happen when people are banded together living as a minority someplace in a harsh environment. There was almost a military feel to it, in the sense that it was very regimented, there were things that you could do and things you couldn't but still all in all I enjoyed it. The best part of living overseas was the amount of learning I experienced and I did it for an extended amount of time, two years. I made a comfortable living and I didn't have to worry about expenses, which was good. Every day was a learning experience living overseas, especially since I had such an interest in the region.

WHAT KIND OF WORK DID YOU DO WHILE LIVING IN RUSSIA?
I worked for a contracting company for two years, where I filled support roles using Russian language and for most of that time I was a phone operator at the U.S. Embassy and fielded incoming calls from the general population. I also supplemented that work doing little contract research projects for the U.S. State Department such as reading Russian newspapers and articles for various research topics.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN WHILE YOU WERE WORKING IN RUSSIA?
My job was to speak Russian and so my Russian improved. I also learned about the culture, which was not intrinsic in my job, but it helped to understand Russian culture and society. For those two years, I could not have accepted a better situation.

WOULD YOU SAY THERE WERE ANY DRAWBACKS TO YOUR EXPERIENCE THERE?
No, there weren't too many regrets. My biggest regret career-wise or education-wise is that I may not have applied myself as much as I could have at Trinity. I think post-Trinity I don't think I've had many regrets.

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC WAYS IN WHICH TRINITY PREPARED YOU?
Trinity was very good at instilling an intellectual curiosity. It helped me to be curious and want to learn more, but it didn't really prepare me in terms of any concrete skills or sense of how to pursue a career. Although it was a great education and it sent me off in the right direction, I was pretty lost after graduation and I didn't really know how to pursue a career.

DID TRINITY PREPARE YOU FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL?
Trinity was a good springboard for graduate school and I was adequately prepared. I think graduate school is very good at preparing you for your career much more so than undergraduate, you really refine your skills more.

WERE THERE ANY CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS THAT YOU WERE INVOLVED WITH AT TRINITY THAT HELPED PREPARE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ENCOUNTERED AFTER GRADUATION?
Unfortunately, no. There weren't too many. I wish I went abroad at Trinity, looking back I think that would have been a good experience. What of course happened was that I ended up going abroad after I graduated and spent a semester studying. So I might have been able to save myself more time if I had gone abroad my Junior year.

IS THERE ANY ADVICE YOU'D OFFER TO RECENT GRADUATES WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THE TYPE OF WORK YOU DO?
What I do is very flexible. If you show aptitude for research and various research tools such as Lexus Nexus and dialogue and if you're a decent writer, you can be successful and marketable.

CAN YOU RECOMMENT ANY PUBLICATIONS THAT CAN PROVIDE LEADS IN YOUR CAREER FIELD?
My career started with a regional focus, Russia, but it has branched out since then to more of a research and writing focus. What I do now is research on writing topics especially technical writings and in terms of resources there are journals, lots of organizations and associations.