NOW
Christiana McGrady currently lives in the D.C. metropolitan area pursuing a doctorate in Theoretical Linguistics at Georgetown University. She’s working on the morphophonology of Slavic languages, studying the relationship between stress and vowel quality.
THEN
Honors and Awards: The Anchorage East Rotary Club Scholarship (2009); The Western Undergraduate Exchange Scholarship (2009); The Dean Flagship Scholarship (2009 and 2010); Phi Sigma Iota Award (2010)
What do you plan to do with your fluency in Russian?
After finishing my undergraduate degrees, I would like to continue on to get a Master’s in Applied Linguistics, with an emphasis on Sociolinguistics. Eventually, I would like to work with an organization like the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR), SEND Int., or the Summer Institute of Linguistics working with a variety of languages, peoples, and cultures towards better understanding and communication between the nations of the world.
What attracted you to Russian Flagship?
My Russian language and literature professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage recommended the Russian Flagship program at PSU to me, and it was upon her recommendation that I decided to pursue Russian at a higher level. I was interested in a serious program dedicated to not only teaching Russian but teaching proficiency in Russian, specifically to a point of being able to work and communicate at the professional level in my chosen field. In addition, I was very intrigued by the possibility of studying abroad in St. Petersburg, Russian in partnership with ACTR with whom I had the opportunity to travel to Russia in the summer of 2008.
What’s the best aspect of being in Flagship?
In all honestly, I do not believe that there is one best aspect of Flagship. think it is the combination of all of the various parts of the program that makes it special and worthwhile. Having the opportunity to live in an immersion setting, participating in multiple events a week in Russian involving culture, taking classes in Russian, working with the tutors, and having a mentored course designed to help us reach our study and career goals: all these elements combine together to create, not only good practice for the Flagship students and thorough instruction in the language but also the feeling of culture both in and out of the classroom.
Why is fluency in Russian important to you?
Fluency in Russian is important to me for two reasons. First of all, in my experience, I have found that the Russian culture places a lot of importance on training and qualifications. Thus, if I desire to work at a professional level with Russians successfully, I think it is imperative to have obtained a certain level of fluency. Secondly, it is simply more efficient. It will be easier to work if I am able to focus on the tasks at hand and am not left grasping for words to communicate.