Six Fainsod Prizes Awarded for 2003-04

Recipients of the Fainsod Prize, awarded to top incoming graduate students in the field of Russian, Soviet, or post-Soviet studies, are: Diana Kudayarova (History), who will examine the interaction between Soviet politics and its society and culture; Maya Peterson (REECA), whose interests include the history and cultures of Central Asia, as well as nationality and identity issues; Dana Ponte (REECA) whose research will address Soviet and post-Soviet Muslim experience as it relates to religious and social identity in the region; Svetlana Rukhelman (Comparative Literature), who plans to investigate the phenomenon of “epiphany” in the modern literature of authors such as Joyce, Proust, Babel, and Kawabata; Aleksandr Senderovich (Slavic Languages & Literatures) who will do research on issues of Jewish memory in the Russian and East European context; and George Soroka (Government) who will study comparative politics of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as it relates to federalism, center-periphery relations, and regionalism.