The Russian American Student Service Network was founded in 2019 with communities in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Buffalo, New York. The project has been developed by a small team of students in each country and seeks to connect small communities in the United States and Russia by opening up a dialogue where people can share and relate to each other.
We are funded by the Eurasia Foundation through the US-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program. The program is partially supported by US NGOs and seeks to continue expanding collaboration between Russia and the United States.
Poverty, discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, or belonging to a particular social group are just some of the problems that modern society has not yet been able to solve. On our site, you will find stories of people who have faced these problems themselves and are trying to solve them. Also, you will get to know the cultural diversity of Russia and the United States.
Lauren Cox
Buffalo, NY, USA
Buffalo State College, Graphic Design and Dance
Lauren is a SUNY Buffalo State graduate and an inaugural participant of the Russian-American Student Service Network. She is interested in cultural and language studies, documentary photography, and connecting people through the arts. She plans to attend graduate school for an interdisciplinary arts program and eventually work in higher education. Lauren manages the Rus-Am SSN website, as well as edits video and coordinates work on the US-side of the project.
Alliyah Dookie
Queens, NY, USA
SUNY Stony Brook Graduate School, Africana Studies
Alliyah has just completed her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/ Africana Studies at SUNY Cortland. She will be starting graduate schools to complete her masters in Africana Studies at Stony Brook University in the fall. She hopes to complete her PhD in Africana Studies and one day become a distinguished professor. She enjoys traveling, listening to music, activism work and working on projects like the ones being executed by the Russian American Student Network because it increases people’s cultural awareness and helps break ignorance.
Anna-Mariia Grinchel
Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Philology, Linguistics
Anna-Mariia has a master’s degree from Saint-Petersburg State University. Her field of interest is intercultural and interlingual communication. She is fond of learning languages, literature and history of different countries.
As a graduate student from the Department of Scandinavian and Dutch philology, she is a Scandinavia lover and she wants to continue studying the Norwegian language, culture and literature. Anna-Mariia is going to receive a postgraduate education and work as a lecturer at university.
Alain Pierre-Lys
Buffalo, NY, USA
Buffalo State College, Graphic Design & Photography
Alain Pierre-Lys is a graduate of Buffalo State College and an artist based in Buffalo, NY. He studies graphic design and photography. His work very frequently touches on the theme of identity and is informed by his passion for history. His personal interests include: movies, music history and reading. Alain is an active part of his community in Buffalo and coordinates interviews on the US-side of the project. Multitalented, he also directs photography and video for Rus-Am SSN.
Alena Rodicheva
St. Petersburg, Russia
St. Petersburg State University, Journalism
Alena is a 4th year student and will soon get a bachelor’s degree in TV and radio journalism. She loves to tell stories, shoot and edit videos, and dreams of making her own documentary. She also likes to communicate with people from all over the world, study their culture and share unique life experiences. International internships and projects are the key to achieving these goals.
Tatiana Yuminova
St. Petersburg, Russia
St. Petersburg State University, Linguistics
Tatiana has just got her Master degree in Linguistics (Simultaneous Interpretation). Major areas of her academic and personal interest have been language and gender and cultural studies. Her aim is to create interdisciplinary projects devoted to languages, music and arts. She plans to continue her academic path and get post graduate education in art. She perceives international project such as Russian-American Student Service Network as an opportunity to raise awareness and to draw attention to problems faced by communities in different parts of the world, in particular in Russia and in the USA.