Spasibo! Alumni Honor Professor of Russian, Support Global Learning
Alumni from class years spanning from 1970 to 2024 gathered at the Paz Center for the April 10 Russian department reunion. Photo by Riley Heffron '26.
Russian-department reunion includes new scholarship launch, networking event
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
The reunion began as a multigenerational celebration in honor of a longtime professor of Russian. But it became a powerful demonstration of support for a small but mighty academic department and for the students who bring it to life.
Seventy Russian-department alumni, representing five decades of class years, recently traveled to Carlisle to celebrate Associate Professor of Russian Elena Duzs, who retires this spring after 29 years at Dickinson. While on campus, they also connected with 25 current students, shared career insights and helped launch the Elena Duzs Russian Department Scholarship.
Committed to student success
Dickinson’s Department of Russian was established in 1947, as U.S. interest in the region intensified during the Cold War. Duzs joined the department in 1997, just a few years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Across the decades since, she was instrumental in bringing leading Russian poets to campus, as she helped students acquire cultural and linguistic competency in a U.S. Department of State “critical” language.
Duzs particularly enjoyed helping students apply what they learned while studying abroad and through internships, as they prepared for global careers. That dedication to student success inspired the reunion organizers to add a networking event to the reunion schedule.
Connecting with possibilities
During networking gathering, students from every current class year took part in a series of interactive, small-group, 20-minute “Career Community” sessions, featuring alumni working in the arts and media, business, education, technology, law, government and the nonprofit sector.
“What struck me was how diverse our career paths ended up being,” said Erica Lally ’08, a historian at Georgetown University. “But what was clear was that everyone there was deeply curious about the world—and that’s a reflection of the education we received at Dickinson.”
Through a series of interactive, small-group sessions, students asked questions and gained advice from Russian-department alumni working in different fields. Photo by Alyssa DeBlasio.
Students said the experience helped them envision the postgraduation possibilities ahead. “I enjoyed hearing about how they used their Russian majors, and their Dickinson educations in general, to get to where they are today,” said Sam Orzolek ’26, a double major in law & policy and Russian with a minor in military science.
“They’re all doing work that they enjoy and used their Russian [majors] to help them get there,” observed Sophia Kovalski ‘28, who plans to double major in political science and Russian and looks forward to studying abroad in Prague.
Deepening ties
The success of the April 10 reunion points to the strong ties forged within Dickinson’s world-language programs, said Professor of Russian Alyssa DeBlasio, who spearheaded the event.
Students must step outside of the familiar and the comfortable as they immerse themselves in a different culture and work through ideas, using unfamiliar syntaxes and vocabularies. This willingness to embrace vulnerability encourages close bonds that often endure for decades, especially among students who studied abroad together. So it’s unsurprising that several alumni who attended the reunion committed to a follow-up Russian-department get-together in Greece.
At the center of it all was Duzs, whom alumni describe as a source of encouragement and intellectual curiosity. “From my first day through graduation day, she was unfaltering in her optimism and enthusiasm,” said Jennifer Moll '02, who became Duzs’ advisee as a first-year, worked in London and Estonia after graduation, and now is a chief strategy officer for a cybersecurity software company in the U.S.
A lasting legacy
The reunion arrived during a landmark moment for global education at Dickinson. This past fall, the college announced a $10 million study-abroad fundraising campaign in honor of the 60th anniversary of Dickinson’s flagship program in Bologna, Italy, and the 40th anniversary of the program in Málaga, Spain.
Dickinson’s study-abroad program in Russia is currently suspended, and students study abroad at the Dickinson center in Tbilisi, Georgia, and elsewhere to immerse themselves in the cultures and languages of the region and prepare to meet the geopolitical challenges of our present day.
Studying abroad remains a vital part of the educational experience, says Alexandra Ubbens ’28 (Russian, international studies), who will study abroad in Tbilisi next year and has been studying Georgian culture to prepare for her time abroad. “Being in a place like Georgia would allow me to use the language in daily interactions, coursework and cultural experiences in a way that simply cannot be replicated in a classroom,” Ubbens says. “I also want to engage with how the culture is actually lived.”
The newly established Elena Duzs Russian Department Scholarship will help support experiences such as these. So far, Russian-department alumni have contributed nearly $5,000 toward that fund, and gifts will be accepted through the end of June.
Reflecting on this outpouring of support, Duzs expressed a deep sense of affection and appreciation. “I feel lucky to have taught Russian language and culture to Dickinson students, who are talented, industrious and ready for a challenge,” she says. “They have also been loyal, soulful and dedicated. For that I have profound gratitude. Spasibo.”
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Published April 27, 2026