Desiree Dube

Tell us a little bit about what you’ve been doing since graduation!

After graduation, I taught English in Penza, Russia for an academic year with the Fulbright program. Afterwards, I went on to teach English in South Korea for another year, and then returned to the US to pursue a master’s in Higher Education Administration at Kent State University. I wanted to help students take advantage of rich international opportunities like the ones I had, and now I work in international education as an Education Abroad Advisor.

What made you decide to start learning Russian? And what motivated you to keep going with it? 

I think I was first intrigued when I was at freshman orientation and saw the Russian literature courses in the catalog as I was choosing classes. I’d always been interested in history and loved reading so decided to take those. Then it was time to choose a foreign language and it just made sense to take the Russian courses!

What are some of the ways that studying Russian at UT has helped you in your post-graduate career?

Studying Russian was really the launch point for me to get to where I am now. I had no idea the journey it would take me on. I had no concept of the ability to teach English abroad or that the field of international higher education even existed. My journey started when I applied to the Critical Language Scholarship. The study abroad program had been suggested by Dr. Stephen Blackwell, and I honestly applied thinking I had no chance at getting it. A few short months later I was accepted and heading to Russia for the first time. I got to immerse myself in the culture and language, and I learned a lot by networking with other students on the program about all the possibilities in the field. That experience led me to apply for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant for Russia, and I again was able to immerse myself and network with people in the international education realm. At first, I thought I might want to pursue historical research and a doctoral program, but after another year teaching English in South Korea, I knew the classroom wasn’t for me. I still really wanted to be involved in the international education space though, and since my first experience abroad, I’d been passionate about helping other people have similar experiences. From the networking opportunities I’d had on CLS and Fulbright, I knew there were careers focused on just that, so I decided to pursue a graduate degree in Higher Education Administration with a focus on International Higher Education. Now I’ve been working as an Education Abroad Advisor for almost three years and feel like I have found my niche.

To what extent do you use your knowledge of Russian language and culture in your life and work today? 

The university I work at has a Russian Language and Translation program, so I get to work with some of our students who are interested in studying abroad for the Russian language (truly it’s the highlight of my life when one of the Russian language students reaches out!). I also love hosting events to spread the word about the Critical Language Scholarship and Fulbright. I think there’s nothing more rewarding than coming full circle helping to advise for the programs that helped me get my start. 

And while I don’t get to speak the language every day, my experience studying Russian and studying abroad on an immersive language program helps me in my role every day. I am able to communicate what it’s like to study abroad and the impact it can have on language skills and learning more generally.

Tell us about a particularly memorable moment or experience you had while learning Russian.

The Russian program was the highlight of my UTK experience. I participated in the Russian club, the Russian dance troupe, and most of my close friends were gained through my Russian classes! They had so many activities for students to connect with the professors and each other, it made large UTK feel a little smaller. 

Did you ever study abroad? If so, can you tell us a little bit about that experience and how it shaped you?

I studied abroad twice while at UTK. I participated in the Critical Language Scholarship program and spent a summer in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia living with a host family and taking intensive language courses. That experience helped me in a number of ways: expanding my worldview (it was my first time traveling internationally and alone), making leaps and bounds in my language progress (I was so much more confident speaking and more motivated to learn), and opening my eyes to all of the different career possibilities in the field. I also participated in a short-term spring break program to Prague in the Czech Republic. I saw that it was offered my senior year and was eager to continue exploring Eastern Europe. My participation in that program has also definitely helped me in my career – I primarily work with faculty who are leading short-term education abroad experiences. 

What advice would you give to students who are thinking about majoring or minoring in a language but aren’t sure how it will fit into their future plans? What would you tell someone who’s considering taking a language about why they should do it? And what advice would you give them for how to approach language learning?

You don’t always know what opportunities are out there. I started studying Russian with no idea where it would take me, and it put me on a career path that has ended up taking me all over the world. Whatever career path you are on, studying another language is going to help you. I don’t know any field that isn’t globalized to some extent. Studying a language is going to help set your application apart as you apply for jobs, it’s going to help you connect with people who speak that language, it’s going to help make you more culturally aware, it’s going to help open opportunities for you. 

With language learning, you have to be okay with not being perfect. I’m a perfectionist. I don’t like messing up, and this really held me back when I was first studying Russian. In language learning, I think you honestly learn best by trying things out and making mistakes. It took me studying abroad to open myself up to that, and I was able to make so much more progress.