Eileen Kunkler, Dual MA in Slavic and East European Studies and Public Affairs, Class of 2010

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work at the Ohio Office of Budget and Management as a financial program manager. In that role, I help to manage grants, assisting state agencies with compliance questions, program implementation, and reporting. 

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

As a graduate of the dual MA in Slavic and East European studies and public affairs, I can say that both of my degrees have had a positive impact on my career. While my current job doesn't focus on Eastern Europe or Eurasia directly, I use the skills that I gained from that degree to analyze complex policy documents, write succinct analyses and recommendations, and communicate concisely. Researching a topic thoroughly and being able to distill down the content into a few key issues or questions is a very valuable skill for many different career paths. And learning foreign languages also forces you to think about what is it that you are really trying to convey to someone else, and to see things from someone else's perspective a little bit easier, how that might impact what you say or how the other person approaches a situation differently. 

If you are a traveler, what is one of your favorite trips you have taken?

Like a lot of people, the pandemic derailed many of my travel plans and I am still catching up. Last summer, I traveled to Paris. I had visited Paris once before on a high school trip in the early 2000s. It was really interesting to see this city you had vague memories of from a very different time in your life, figuring out what you remembered, what had changed, and how it compared to those stereotypical ideas of Paris and France. It's hard to beat sitting at a cafe on a beautiful summer evening and watching the city! 

What are your future plans?

In the future, I would really love to be able to work in the non-profit or federal space using my skills to write and/or manage grants to support recovery and rebuilding after the war in Ukraine.