Katia Dianina is a Russian professor at the University with a storied background - including a brush with a celebrity. Through educating her students, Dianina is enthusiastically and energetically making plans to enrich her students' college experiences.
Which classes do you teach at the University?\nI teach graduate seminars, undergraduate Russian literature and advanced Russian. I also just received a Mead Endowment. Mead Endowments are given to promote closer interaction between professors and students. Most students are exposed to professors only in large lecture-hall settings. This is an opportunity to engage in projects together and to learn outside the classroom.
What are you going to do with the endowment?\nBecause of my personal and professional interest in museums, I am taking students to museums in Richmond and D.C. We are going to go to Hillwood, just outside D.C. and the [Virginia] Museum of Fine Arts, which has a Pablo Picasso exhibit. It will all be in Russian, so it will be a complete immersion experience.
Where are you from in Russia?\nSt. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad.
What was it like growing up there?\nWe didn't know any other way. Traditionally, grandmothers would serve as primary caretakers of kids, and I had a very close relationship with my grandmother. We did a lot of mushroom hunting and berry picking in local woods, something that I miss here the most.
Why did you come to the United States?\nI came to the United States, honestly, for adventure. I came for graduate school. I was looking for something new and exciting.
How was the transition to the United States?\nIt was an adventure and a party non-stop. I found everything fascinating: the dirty streets of New York (
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