Lauren Post, MA in Slavic and East European Studies, Class of 2015

What is my current position and how did I get there?

I am an analyst with the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the United States. My journey to the ADL has been largely through the Jewish community and specifically through Jewish nonprofit work. My positions over the years in this space were largely research oriented, so it's been a nice transition from what I had been doing in grad school to what I currently do full time.

I currently track anti-semetic trends in the United States as they emerge around the conflict in the Middle East.

How has your CSEEES MA helped you throughout your post-graduate life?

My master's degree gave me many of the skills that I use on a daily basis. I learned to ask good questions, how to find information and more importantly, how to communicate that information in a way that is relevant and useful to whomever it is I'm presenting it to. The program also helped me immensely with project management—seeing and conceptualizing a project through from start to finish is a valuable professional skill.

I gained several cultural competencies and a deep understanding of Jewish communal trauma that informs the work I do at ADL every day. I work with many Israelis and Persian Jews, and having a background in Slavic Studies is helpful in understanding their perspectives and working with them on community issues as they arise.

What was your focus or research interest when you studied at OSU?

I focused on Polish area studies and my master’s thesis was on Polish sex education in post-communist Poland.

The study of abortion rights is well studied in Poland—I wanted to focus on something slightly different and landed on sex education. This is an underdeveloped and understudied part of reproductive health in the country—I hope that someone else will take it up because it's a topic that deserves much more attention than it currently receives, and certainly could use more time than I had to devote to it.

What inspires me?

The work that I do now professionally and personally can be heavy, and what inspires me is that at the end of the day I think what I do really does make a difference. If I didn’t think that was true, my work would be impossible to do.