Awards
Congratulations to the following students who have received prestigious awards:

Megan McClain at Peterhof
on the Gulf of Finland

Departmental Honors
Megan McClain - 2007

Fulbright Grants
Jessica Peyton (Research Grant, Georgia) - 2008
Alison Glass (Teaching Assistantship, Russia) - 2006

David L. Boren National Security Education Program Fellowship
Curtis Drummond - 2007
Katie Stuhldreher - 2007

U.S. State Department Critical Language Scholarship
Jessica Peyton (Turkish) - 2008

FBI Summer Honors Internship Program
Megan Grebe - 2008

The AAASS Midwestern Regional Graduate Student Essay Contest
Undergraduate Shelece Easterday '04 won this graduate student essay competition for her essay entitled "Murdering the Muse: The Romantic Poet's Rebellion against the Source of His Inspiration," written as the final paper for Professor Gillespie's fall 2003 Russian Romanticism course.
Link to a newsbrief about this award

UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program)
2008
Mary Ann Barge was awarded a grant for her research project "Study of National Identity and Patriotism During the Siege, and their Implications for Today," in which she will study ideas of patriotism and national identity in memoirs and diaries from the Siege of Leningrad.
2006
Megan McClain was awarded a research grant for preliminary work on her senior honors thesis in Russian. Her proposal was entitled "Ties That Bind: Romance, Disillusionment, and Captivity in the Caucasus throughout Russian Literature."

Nanovic Institute for European Studies Research and Travel Grant
2008
Mary Ann Barge, "Study of National Identity and Patriotism During the Siege, and their Implications for Today".

The Senior Russian Award
Shelece Easterday teaching in St. Petersburg
after graduation from Notre Dame
This award is presented to a graduating senior Russian major in recognition of outstanding achievement in the study of Russian by the Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures.
Past recipients:
Megan McClain - 2007
Alison Glass - 2006
Sheila Dawes - 2005
Shelece Easterday - 2004
Jason Villarreal - 2003
James R. Stevens - 2002
Zenovia Lockhart - 2001
Matthew J. Anderson - 2000
Elizabeth A. Garcia - 1999
Kathryn M. Gries - 1998

The Lauren B. Thomas Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded by the Russian faculty of the Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures to an outstanding Russian major who exhibits financial need. The award is endowed by a generous gift from Bethany Thomas ('95) in memory of her father.
Past recipients:
Mary Ann Barge - 2007-2008
Jaci Wilkening and William Champness - 2006-2007
Alison Glass - 2005-2006
Patricia Phan - 2004-2005
Shelece Easterday - 2003-2004
Jason Villarreal - 2002-2003
Lisa Demidovich - 2001-2002

ACTR Post-Secondary Scholar Laureate Award
Jessica Peyton - 2008

The 2007 ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest
Matthew Gore, honorable mention, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Megan Grebe, honorable mention, level 2 (non-heritage speaker)
Megan McClain, bronze medal, level 4 (non-heritage speaker)

The 2006 ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest
Patrick Donnelly, honorable mention, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Vanessa Milano, honorable mention, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Elizabeth Brooks, honorable mention, level 2 (non-heritage speaker)
Megan McClain, bronze medal, level 3 (non-heritage speaker)
William Champness, honorable mention, level 3 (non-heritage speaker)
Nicola Bunick, honorable mention, level 4 (non-heritage speaker)
Patrick Seul, honorable mention, level 4 (non-heritage speaker)

Alison Glass, Petra Dankova, and Megan McClain

The 2005 ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest
Alexandra Hanson, silver medal, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Betsy Brooks, honorable mention, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Katie Stuhldreher, bronze medal, level 2 (non-heritage speaker)
Petra Dankova, honorable mention, level 2 (non-heritage speaker)
Megan McClain, honorable mention, level 2 (non-heritage speaker)
Marina Zavolock, honorable mention, level 1 (heritage speaker)

The 2004 ACTR National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest
Megan McClain, gold medal, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Petra Dankova, bronze medal, level 1 (non-heritage speaker)
Alison Glass, bronze medal, level 4 (non-heritage speaker)
Link to a newsbrief about this contest

Jaci Wilkening in front of Lenin's tomb

Alexander Pushkin Grant for Summer Russian Language Study
(funded by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies)
2008
Vanessa Milano
Katherine Buza
Kaitlin Spillane
Logan Zoellner

Program in Russian and East European Studies Summer Grants for Study of Russian
2005
Megan Matuska (Russian)
William Champness (Russian)
2004
Patrick Seul (Russian)
William Sullivan (Russian)
Thomas Seabaugh (Russian)
Shannan Lettieri (Russian)
2003
Amy Baker (Polish)
Shane Lowenberg (Russian)
Thomas Seabaugh (Russian)
2002
John Enterline (Polish)
Jennifer Garczyk (Polish)
SueAnn Lamia (Russian)
2001
Brock Domin (Russian)
Sarah Kampbell (Russian)
2000
Amy Buettner (Russian)
Alison McElroy (Russian)

Office of International Studies Summer Grants for Study of East European Languages
2008
Katherine Buza (Russian)
Edward Dropcho (Russian)
Joseph Macuibq (Polish)
Vanessa Milano (Russian)
Kristine Nugent (Ukranian)
2007
Agata Michalska (Polish)
Jaclyn Sheridan (Russian)
Kristine Nugent (Ukrainian)
2005
Megan McClain (Russian)
2004
Petra Dankova (Russian)
2003
Stephanie Aberger (Polish)
Sheila Dawes (Russian)
Shelece Easterday (Russian)
Andrew Frye (Polish)
Zenovia Lockhart in St. Petersburg

2002
Elizabeth Engraff (Polish)
Leslie Fuchs (Russian)
Mark Jarotkiewicz (Russian)
Brianne Todd (Russian)
John Wojcik (Polish)
2001
Lauren Berrigan (Czech)
Jacob Cusack (Czech)
Jennifer Garczyk (Polish)
SueAnn Lamia (Russian)
Molly Moran (Russian)
Jim Stevens (Russian)
2000
Melissa Bouche (Russian)
Lisa Demidovich (Russian)
Zenovia Lockhart (Russian)
Vincent Slatt (Polish)

McPartlin Writing Competition for First-Year Students
Kristin Boyd received third place for her essay "The Grotesque Spaces of St. Petersburg and their Destructive Effects on the Psyche of Raskolnikov," written for Professor Gasperetti's fall 2001 freshman seminar entitled "A Cultural History of St. Petersburg"

John Kennedy received second place for his essay "Poetic Artistry and Political Ambiguity: Pushkin and Blok Remain Objective and Balanced," written for Professor Gillespie's fall 2000 freshman seminar "Russian Literature and the Arts Through History"

Snite Museum of Art Essay Contest for First-Year Students
Ryan Liffrig received second place for his creative essay (written in the form of a newspaper article from the Soviet paper Pravda from 1949) "The Superiority of Soviet Art: A Totally Unbiased Description of Soviet Propaganda Posters and Fyodor Gladkov's Novel Cement," written for Professor Gillespie's fall 2004 freshman seminar entitled "Russian Literature and the Arts Through History"