M.A. Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Virginia; Humanitarian Profile (Summa Cum Laude), American College of Sofia, Bulgaria; B.A. Russian Area Studies (Magna Cum Laude), Washington and Lee University

Research Interests: Slavic folklore (fairy tales, myths, legends, art, traditions, holidays, dances), Nina Sadur, Russian Modernism, Pushkin and classical mythology, Karamzin, Nabokov’s space organization, Bulgarian and Russian purge literatures

Papers Presented: "Witch’s Tears: Sadur’s Moral Scary Fairy Tale of the Modern Day Rusalka," University of Virginia Slavic Forum, February 2011.

"Nabokov's 'Opened' and 'Closed' Spaces: Space Organization in The Defense and Glory as an Expression of Nabokov's Memories of Russia," at an interdisciplinary conference focusing on "The Self and Other", UVa Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, February 2012.

"The Vizroditelen Proces in Bulgaria", University of Virginia Slavic Forum, March 2012.

"The Four-Winged Seagull or Four Interpretations of Nina Zarechnaia as the Seagul in Chekhov's play, The Seagull", NESEEES Conference, Seton Hall University, March 2012.

"The 'Uncles', the Revolutionaries, and the Outsiders: The Three Inseparable Colors Ivan Vazov uses in Under the Yoke to Paint the Picture of the Bulgarian Nation in the 1870s", SCSS Conference, Savannah, GA, March 2012.

Languages: Bulgarian, Russian, Spanish

Courses Taught: English as Second Language (American College of Sofia); RUSS 1010, RUSS 2020, RUSS 3030

Publications:

"10 Things You Would Have Never Guessed Bulgaria Gave to the World", SSGS Obrazovanshchina Newsletter (December 2010).

Translation of a poem by the Bulgarian poet Peyo Yavorov into English, SSGS Obrazovanshchina Newsletter (May 2011).

“Life in the Russian House”, SSGS Obrazovanshchina Newsletter, (Fall 2011).

Extracurricular Activities: Directed the Spring 2012 student staging of Chekhov's Свадьба. Performance available online, here.

Awards:

First Year Russian Award (2006-2007), Washington and Lee University
Linda Cooper and Bobby Henderson Award (2009), Washington and Lee University