Name: Keary Iarussi
Graduation: 2014
Majors: Diplomacy & Global Politics; Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies

A professor I had at a local college while I was in high school persuaded me to act on my lifelong interest of Russian language and culture. Accordingly, during my first semester of freshman year I began to take Russian language courses and quickly fell in love (honestly speaking, of a love/hate nature) with the language.

I have studied abroad twice: St. Petersburg, Russia, for Fall 2012 and Tallinn, Estonia, for J-term 2014. Russia is a special place – its beauty is in its uniqueness. Both as an American and a scholar, everything there fascinated me. I look forward to going back as soon as possible in order to continue my language studies. Studying abroad fundamentally changed my perception of the world and how I think.

Eventually, I’d like to work as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service. In the near future I plan to further develop my analytical understanding of the former USSR and Russian language skills through graduate studies. My specific interests in the region lie in energy politics, corruption, and organized crime.

I’d like to thank everyone I’ve worked with in the GRAMELAC department and the staff of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies for their guidance during my time at Miami. The breadth and depth of knowledge I received here is more than I could’ve asked for.