Class notes
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| Dariusz Kobus (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Poland) works as senior environmental consultant at the Environmental Capacity Building Program of the Ministry of Science and Environment in Warsaw, Poland. |
| Mihaly Posfai (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Hungary) is head and associate professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Veszprem, Hungary. |
| Stoyan Stefanov Gaydardzhiev (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Bulgaria) is a research fellow and chair of Mineral Processing at the Brandenburg University of Technology - Cottbus in Germany. |
| Peter Ilieve (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Bulgaria) is an environmental engineer at the Center for Environmental Analysis of the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in North Carolina, USA. |
| Kazmer Kovacs (History and Philosophy of Arts and Architecture, Romania) is visiting professor at the Department of History and Theory of Architecture at the 'Ion Mincu' School of Architecture in Bucharest, Romania. |
| Lina Balenaite (History and Philosophy of Arts and Architecture, Lithuania) is director of the Resource Centre at the British Council in Lithuania. |
| Mariana Kolova (History and Philosophy of Arts and Architecture, Bulgaria) works for Rafael Vinoly Architects as a project manager in London, UK. |
| Vsevolod Bulanstev (Economics, Russian Federation) is executive director of Itconaudit, Russian Federation. |
| Jaroslav Burger (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Czech Republic) is a consultant and project manager for DuPont Safety Resources, DuPont CZ, Prague. |
| Mario Marinov (Sociology, Bulgaria) is assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology, South-West University "Neofit Rilski" in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. |
| Martin Svalbach (Economics, Czech Republic) works as a tax manager at Deloitte, Prague. |
| Dana Dawson Lerescu (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Romania) continues to work as a specialist at the Cardiology Department of the New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, UK. |
| Petr Hlavinek (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Czech Republic) is a professor at the Institute of Municipal Water Management of the Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering in Brno, Czech Republic. |
| Joanne Wijaszka (International Relations and European Studies, Poland) is first secretary at the European Union Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. |
| Gent Ibrahimi (Legal Studies, Albania) is executive director of the Institute for Policy and Legal Studies (IPLS) in Tirana, Albania. |
Deanna H. MacDonald (History and Philosophy of Arts and Architecture, Canada)  is an art historian and writer. She has her latest book "100 Best Paintings in New York" published in 2008, containing descriptions of works displayed in prestigious museums of New York City. After CEU, Deanna did a PhD in art history at McGill University in Montreal and since September 2007 she is living in Madagascar and working as a freelance journalist and writer. |
Tomasz Mironczuk (Economics, Poland)  is managing director - treasurer of the Bank BPH, the third largest bank in Poland. He is responsible for trading of financial instruments, assets & liabilities management and funding of the bank. Also, Tomasz is chairman of Supervisory Board of MTS-CeTO, a unique institution in Poland, licensed to organize and manage a regulated market. He is one of originators of Master Agreement dedicated to derivatives trading at Polish financial market. |
Sergiu Botezatu (Economics, Moldova, Republic of)  was part of the team that helped Iraqi Government to elaborate two important strategies - Iraqi Economic Development Strategy and Iraqi Agriculture Sector Development Strategy. Sergiu was also one of the key developer of $600mln. Agribusiness Development Project, and now he is glad to be back to Moldova. |
| Yuri Gosh (History, Ukraine) is business development director at Bookva Empik sp. z. o. o. in Kyiv, Ukraine. |
| Tomasz Kamusella (International Relations and European Studies, Poland) is an associate professor at Study of Central & Eastern Europe Unit at Opole University in Poland. Tomasz has published his book "Silesia and Central European Nationalisms: The Emergence of National and Ethnic Groups in Prussian Silesia and Austrian Silesia, 1848-1918," West Lafayette IN, USA: Purdue University Press. |
| Jasmina Dimitrieva (Legal Studies, Republic of Macedonia) is a legal advisor for the Rule of Law Department of OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje in Macedonia. |
| Elena Sulima (Legal Studies, Ukraine) left world leader in alumnium production company RUSAL to join the the Finance Department of the Office of the General Counsel at European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, UK. Elena, in her counsel position, will be dealing with all treasury activities of the EBRD. |
| Bostjan Jazbec (Economics, Slovenia) is a member of the Governing Board at the Bank of Slovenia and assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana. |
| Alina Carare (Economics, Romania) is an economist at the European Division of the International Monetary Fund Institute (IMFI) in Washington, DC, USA. |
| Octavian Vladimir Carare (Economics, Romania) is assistant professor at the School of Management of University of Texas at Dallas, USA. |
| Sarka Lellkova (History, Czech Republic) teaches at Pardubice University in the Czech Republic, as an assistant professor. |
| Alexandru Lesanu (History, Moldova, Republic of) has been an assistant professor at the Department of History and International Relations of the International Free University of Moldova. |
| Ulrike Hotopp (International Relations and European Studies, Germany) works as a chief economist at the Health and Safety Executive in London, UK. |
| Eugene Afonasin (Medieval Studies, Russian Federation) is professor at the Department of Philosophy of Novosibirsk State University, Russia. |
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Réka Pigniczky (Political Science, Hungary) had one of her films shown at OSA in the '40 Films About Communism' series. |
| Svetlana Kulikova (Political Science, Kyrgyzstan) is lecturer at the Louisiana State University, and is just finishing her PhD in Mass Communication at the Manship School of Mass Communication of the same university. |
Craig Zelizer (Sociology, United States of America)  has a forthcoming book (Kumarian/Stylus Press, May 2009) that he co-edited with Dr. Robert A. Rubinstein, (Syracuse University) with support from the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Building Peace presents a rich set of case studies of courage in peacebuilding that should inspire another generation of peacemakers. The authors provide a great variety of blueprints for communities, nations and multi-cultural groups dealing with the aftermath or reduction of ongoing and often violent conflicts. |
Helena Zhidkova (History, Russian Federation)  met Maria Raluca Popa (Romania, HIST '98), Daria Ukhova (Erasmus Mundus Gemma student), Julia Gradskova (Russia, POLS '96) met at the conference "Family, Marriage and Parenthood" in Stockholm in September, 2008. |
| Vugar Seidov (International Relations and European Studies, Azerbaijan) shared his news with us. The twin-sisters, Asmar and Sofia, safely arrived in this world on 15 May, at 14:27 and 14:29 CET respectively, at Semmelweis University Medical Center in Budapest, joining two other girls, Fidan and Narmin, in the Seidovs family. |
| Katherine Bezgachina (International Relations and European Studies, Russian Federation) is producer at the BBC Russian Service in Moscow. |
| Vladimir Chura (International Relations and European Studies, Ukraine) is head of team at the Field Programs (South) Department of ICF "International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine" in Kyiv. |
Natalia Kochergina (Legal Studies, Ukraine)  continues to work with Kyiv office. Natalia has become a Partner of DLA Piper LLP in the end of 2008. She was acknowledged as one of the leading professionals in real estate. |
Ketevan Gagnidze (Legal Studies, Georgia)  works for the United Nations Mission in Liberia as a child protection adviser in the Human Rights and Protection section. Ketevan (on the right), Istvan Lipniczki (Hungary, LEGS '99) and Kremena Ionkova (Bulgaria, LEGS '98) met in Ketevan's apartment, and they were talking a lot about their good times in Budapest and the old days at CEU. They all agreed that studying at the CEU was a great opportunity and a good foundation for their careers. |
Alexei Sitnikov (Political Science, Russian Federation)  Alexei Sitnikov is currently the Vice-President of the New Economy School (NES) of Russia. In 2009, he welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama to the institution's 16th Annual Commencement Ceremony in Moscow. In addition to his work at NES, Alexei serves as the Moscow liaison for Stanford University's FSI (Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies) Distance Learning Initiative. After graduating with a degree in History from the Yarolavl State University, Alexei started his career as a local news reporter in Russia. He later earned a Master's diploma from CEU, with a focus on constitutionalism in the Russian Federation, before moving on to pursuing a second Master's degree and a PhD at Stanford University. Alexei has published numerous papers on comparative analysis of political systems and Russia's political economy. |
| Julia Gradskova (Political Science, Russian Federation) from The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Sodertorn University College, Stockholm came to Samara for field research (9-12 March 2009). On the photo Helena Zhidkova (Hist'96) and Julia in the local municipal museum, where Helena is currently working. |
Julia Gradskova (Political Science, Russian Federation)  from The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Södertörn University College, Stockholm came to Samara for field research (9-12 March 2009). On the photo Helena Zhidkova (Hist'96) and Julia in the local municipal museum, where Helena is currently working. |
| Anastasia Brusnikina (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Russian Federation) is an engineer at Lhoist International Group in Hamburg, Germany. |
| Zulfiya Sabirova (Gender Studies, Uzbekistan) is head of the Sub-Office UN WFP (World Food Program) in Gambella, Ethiopia. |
| Agon Demjaha (International Relations and European Studies, Republic of Macedonia) currently serves as ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia in Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden (also covering Kingdom of Norway, Republic of Finland and Republic of Estonia). |
| Tunde Puskas (International Relations and European Studies, Slovakia) had her dissertation defence in February 2009. Her book was published in Peter Lang Publishing House. |
Mikhail Kizilov (Medieval Studies, Ukraine)  is an associate member of Merton College at Oxford. From November 2008 he will be a Kreitman Fellow at Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Beer Sheva, Israel). Mikhail is working on different aspects of the Crimean history in later medieval and early modern times and on various aspects of Jewish, Khazar and Karaite history in Eastern Europe (esp. in the Crimea, Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania). |
| Alan Renwick (Political Science, United Kingdom (Great Britain)) has taken up a lectureship in politics at the University of Reading in September, 2008. He looks forward to see those alumni who are in Reading and Oxford; and those not living around, a [dot] renwick [at] reading [dot] ac [dot] uk (do let him know) any time you're in town. |
| Vitaly Kovalenko (Economics, Ukraine) is head of the Analytics Department at New Conception Group, in Kyiv, Ukraine. |
| Cristina Pais-Ciocirlan (Economics, Romania) accepted the position of assistant professor of Management in the School of Business at Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania, USA. Cristina teaches Management and Organizational Behavior classes as well as an European Union Simulation class, offered in partnership with the Department of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. |
| Sergiu Dragos Serban (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Romania) is managing director at White Young Green International in Bucharest, Romania. |
| Anna Vasylyk (History, Ukraine) is married to Artem Kolesnyk (Ukraine, HIST). They have 2 kids, Maxim is 7 years old, Natalia is 2. Anna met Olga Klymenko (Ukraine, HIST '98) in Toronto. Olga is doing her PhD there. Dasha Kucherova (Russia, HIST '98) also lives in Toronto with her husband. Anna sends her best greetings to all HIST '98 alumni. |
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Patrik Zoltvány (International Relations and European Studies, Slovakia) is a partner for European Affairs & Lobbying Services of AJG European Consulting, s.r.o. and Head of the AJG European Office in Brussels. He acts also as principal for the market-sector unit Government, EU & Not for Profit (GEUN). He joined the firm in 1998. Since 1997 Patrik has acted as an EU Affairs adviser to the European Institutions, ministries, prestigious trade associations, foundations, NGOs and business sector. |
Nada Zecevic (Medieval Studies, Serbia)  is program coordinator at the European Office of the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Budapest, Hungary. |
| Irina German (Gender Studies, Russian Federation) is brand manager at the Marketing Department of Heineken Brewery, Russia. |
| Elena Zhukova (History, Russian Federation) works for GE Commercial Finance as an operations manager in Budapest, Hungary. |
| Dmitri Gainutdinov (International Relations and European Studies, Russian Federation) is director of The RB Partnership in Moscow, Russia. |
| Bermet Tursunkulova (International Relations and European Studies, Kyrgyzstan) is Vice President for Academic Affairsof the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. |
| Istvan Lipniczki (Legal Studies, Hungary) works for the United Nations Mission in Liberia as a human rights officer. |
| Calin Nicolae (Economics, Romania) is financial analyst at Financial Analyst in Oakland, California. He has been actively involved in the Northern California Alumni Chapter and organized a great gathering in Gordon Biersch in San Francisco. Alumni enjoyed a fantastic selection of beers and appetizers and had a jolly time together. |
| Valentina Nielsen (Fomenko) (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Russian Federation) is budget policy analyst at the Department of Budget and Management of the State of Maryland, USA since 2005. |
| Scott Withrow (International Relations and European Studies, United States of America) is senior political advisor at the Political Department of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| Krsto Perovic (Legal Studies, Serbia) is national legal adviser at the Rule of Law and Human Rights Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro |
| Yulia Bolotskikh (Nationalism, Russian Federation) has become a senior auditor at the North American Group of ALCOA, Corporate Audit and Finance, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. |
Oleh Kaptar (Political Science, Ukraine)  recently joined UNICEF Ukraine, and he got married in 2007. |
| Kristina Khrystich (Political Science, Ukraine) Is finance manager at AMSTAR Europe in Kyiv, Ukraine. |
| Mircea Cojocaru (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Moldova, Republic of) is head of the Environmental Unit of Black Sea Trade & Development Bank in Thessaloniki, Greece. |
| Zoryana Polova (History, Ukraine) is a senior lecturer at the Chair of Social Sciences and Humanities, L'viv State Financial Academy, Ukraine. |
| Jan Skopecek (International Relations and European Studies, Czech Republic) is a marketing manager at the Marketing Department of Reuters in Singapore. |
| Alfiya Musina (International Relations and European Studies, Uzbekistan) is country manager in Uzbekistan for EU/UNDP Border Management and Drug Action Programmes in Central Asia. |
| Roxana Cristina Lesovici (Political Science, Romania) is an EU affairs manager at the Corporate EU Brussels Office of Norsk Hydro SA, Belgium. |
| Olga Demidova (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Russian Federation) works as a project manager for Ecoline Environmental Assessment Center in Moscow. Also, she is in the final year of her PhD studies in Geography at Moscow Lomonosov State University. |
| Premysl Filip (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Czech Republic) is senior manager in charge of corporate responsibility at Vodafone Czech Republic a.s in Prague, Czech Republic. |
Anna Harutyunyan (Gender Studies, Armenia)  worked at different local and international organizations, such as OSCE and UNDP, in the field of women's rights and gender equality after graduating from CEU. Her last employment was with Open Society Institute where she served as Armenia country coordinator for OSI/HESP Academic Fellowship Program. Anna is currently based in Germany as a DAAD/OSI fellow doing PhD studies at the Free University Berlin Institute of Ethnology. (in the picture with Tigran Zakaryan (HIST '01) |
| Librado Orozco (International Relations and European Studies, Peru) is minister counsellor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lima, Peru. |
| Natela Jordan (Legal Studies, Uzbekistan) moved to Minnesota (U.S.) in 2005 and started to build local Minnesota chapter. Please also note that as of 2005 Natela changed her last name from Farsiyants to Jordan. |
| Anita Marta Pasztor (Legal Studies, Hungary) is head of Pasztor Law Office in Budapest, Hungary. |
| Istvan Olejnyik (Political Science, Hungary) is living in Lithuania since 2004 August, Istvan is married to a CEU alumna, Jurgita Domeikaite (Lithuania, POLS '02). He is running a recruitment agency in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Jurgita is an assistant at the Commercial Office of the Hungarian Embassy in Vilnius. |
Galia Akimova (Khusnutdinova) (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Uzbekistan) .JPG "May 2009, Canberra, Australia. Mini CEU reunion \"Down Under\" - Galia Akimova (Uzbekistan, ENVS '03) and Anna Firsova (Russia, ENVS '03)") since her marriage she has changed surname from Khustnudinova to Akimova. Galia works as a Project Officer in the School of Engineering, Griffith University. And she has recently met with one of the CEU alumni and they had a reunion in Australia. Check out the photo from their meeting. |
| Brunilda Pali (Gender Studies, Albania) got married in October 2006 in Venice, and gave birth to a baby boy called Maren in June 2007. Since April, 2008 Brunilda moved to Belgium, and started working as a researcher in the Institute of Criminology (LINC), in the University of Leuven. |
| Klaudia Gonzalez-Martinez (International Relations and European Studies, Mexico) is dean of Social Sciences of the Universidad Popular Autonoma del Estado de Puebla in Puebla, Mexico. |
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In Memoriam: Maria Kuzmina (Legal Studies, Russian Federation) On November 27, 2009, our cherished alumna, Maria Kuzmina (Legal Studies, Russian Federation), was among the victims of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg train accident. We grieve this tragic loss and extend our condolences and deepest sympathy to Maria's family and loved ones. |
| Kamilya Berkaliyeva (Legal Studies, Kazakhstan) currently works as a senior associate at Salans law firm and specializes in M&A, competition law and subsoil use. She got married in 2008. |
| Stanislava Kuzmova (Medieval Studies, Slovakia) has received a Marie Curie Fellowship for 3 months in London for the program European doctorate in Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean and a Visegrád scholarship for 10 months to Jagiellonian University, Cracow (for the year 2007). |
| Matteus Van der Velden (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Netherlands) is an associate program officer at the Water and Environmental Sanitation Department of the UNICEF Nepal Country Office. |
| Natalia Lesnic (International Relations and European Studies, Moldova, Republic of) is coordinator at the International Cooperation Unit of the Austrian Energy Agency in Vienna. |
| Zuzana Vojtekova (International Relations and European Studies, Slovakia) works as a senior business analyst at A.T. Kearney Management Consultant Company in Prague, Czech Republic. |
| Anna Krivtsun (International Relations and European Studies, Moldova, Republic of) is a fellow at the Refugee Counseling Service in Minsk, Belarus. |
| Kumar Bekbolotov (Political Science, Kyrgyzstan) works as a senior research coordinator for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting in Bishkek, Kyrgizstan. |
| Agnes Santha (Sociology and Social Anthropology, Romania) is assistant lecturer at the Human Sciences and Communication Studies Department of Sapientia University in Romania. Also, she is enrolled in a PhD program in Sociology at ELTE University, Budapest. |
Mamatkhalil Razaev (Center for Policy Studies, Kyrgyzstan)  and his wife Olga Yarova brought their daughter Aibike to Reunion in Bishkek. |
Maria Cvitkovic & Mihai Valeanu (History, United States of America)  Mihai Valeanu and Maria Cvitkovic were married in Cleveland, Ohio on August 8, 2009. On the days leading up to the wedding, the couple's CEU friends called from all over the world. Three of their CEU classmates were at the wedding. Mihai and Maria met at CEU in 2004, and their time in Budapest has very special memories for both of them.
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| Chad Poitras (International Relations and European Studies, Canada) is a sales representative at the Sales Department of Richardson Lighting in Saskatoon, Canada. |
| Patricia Hernandez Ruiz (Legal Studies, Mexico) is a project researcher at the Legal Studies Department of CIDE (Center for Research and Teaching in Economics) in Mexico City. |
| Maxim A. Romanov (Legal Studies, Russian Federation) recently got a new appointment at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), and will also be an assistant professor of the European Studies Institute "Russian European College" under MGIMO-University. |
| Farid Guliyev (Political Science, Azerbaijan) is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. Prior to coming to Bremen, Farid worked for the Baku office of International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and taught Political Science courses for undegraduate students at private Azerbaijani universities. His current doctoral research supervised by Dr. Matthijs Bogaards is in the field of comparative democratization and the political economy of resource dependence. For contact details and recent updates, see Farid's personal profile. |
| Raluca Gui (Economics, Romania) is business support operations specialist at the Business Support Operations Department of IBM IGF Hungary. |
| Aydin Atakishiyev (Economics, Azerbaijan) is director of the Department of Analysis and Planning of the "Transcaucasus Development Bank" in Baku, Azerbaijan. |
| Sahir Khanna (International Relations and European Studies, India) is working as a research analyst at IMPAQ International, in Columbia, Maryland. The IMPAQ’s mission is to provide research and consulting services to its US and international clients in the areas of social program evaluation, economic research and policy analysis. |
| Elgun Taghiyev (Political Science, Azerbaijan) is program officer at the Political Party Program of the US National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Baku, Azerbaijan. |
| Marta Vetier (Environmental Sciences and Policy, Hungary) works as policy adviser at Greenpeace European Unit in Belgium. |
| Alexander Shlyk (Political Science, Belarus) works as a consultant for the World Bank in Tanzania. |
| Jeffrey Le (Political Science, United States of America) is senior program assistant at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington DC, USA: |
| Dambaru Ballav Subedi (Sociology and Social Anthropology, Nepal) is director for the Youth Program at SOS Children's Village Nepal (Under the Umbrella of SOS Children's Village International). |
| Nino Kereselidze (International Relations and European Studies, Georgia) started doing a postgraduate M.Sc. degree in Political Science at the Vrije University Amsterdam. Recently, her IRES coursemates Milda Macenaite and Ivan Kalburov visited Amsterdam and they were enormously happy to remember many of the happy days spent at their Alma Mater. |
| Maryna Polyatska (Economics, Ukraine) Maryna finished her studies at CEU in June 2009. Immediately after that, she returned to Ukraine, where by July 2009, she had accepted the position of financial analyst at a major Ukrainian Corporation. The company's main activity is the distribution of Proctal & Gamble products in the eastern region of Ukraine. She is very happy with her current job, and she is looking forward to advancing in her position from financial analyst to business and legal consultant. |
