Luke Menzies, MA in Slavic and East European Studies, Class of 2005

1) Where do you work and what is your current position?

I am an associate professor in libraries at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Until February I headed up the Digital Services Department at UAB, a department that I built from the ground up starting in 2021. Prior to this I worked at Virginia Tech and Indiana University, with the bulk of my work focusing on digital stewardship in close collaboration with special collections and archives. I also interned at the Library of Congress, working with digital "collections as data."

I work, broadly, in digital libraries and library IT, which I would summarize as using technology to provide continued access to historical and cultural heritage materials. In academic libraries I have found my niche because being a librarian has enabled me to engage in a diverse array of impactful work. For example, I have:

• Installed and documented a collection of PC video games on university library computers and created the software tools needed to play them
• Worked with a collection of texts relevant to the history of medicine, written in Arabic, getting them digitized and made accessible in the Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME)
• Created software automations and built IT infrastructure, both on premises and in the cloud, to support data curation, digitization, digital stewardship, and digital library workflows
• Run text analysis scripts on newspapers and created data visualizations, such as a network graph of 16th-century Central Asian kinship networks
• Built a department that digitizes, preserves, and makes historical and cultural heritage materials accessible online
• Engaged in the intellectual life of the university and contributed to the educational mission of several public, R1 universities

2) Tell us how you got there, and how your CSEEES MA helped you throughout your post-graduate life?

After I earned an MA in post-Soviet area studies from CSEES and an MA in Slavic linguistics from the Slavic Department at Ohio State, I went on to study Islamic mysticism and the Islamic history of Central Asia at Indiana University and Stanford. I earned a masters degree in Islamic Studies from Stanford in 2013. I earned a library degree at Indiana University in 2018, and I have been working in academic libraries since 2016.

One of the strengths of the CSEES program is that you can learn from experts who are at the top of their fields in several different disciplines. I studied historical Slavic linguistics with Charles Gribble, Brian Joseph, and Dan Collins.  Margaret Mills introduced me to the histories, cultures, and politics of Central Asia and Afghanistan. I expanded my theoretical vocabulary while wrestling with the human aspects of conflict in Yana Hashamova's course on the Balkans. Nick Breyfogle coached me in my research on Sufism in the 19th-century Caucasus Mountains. My experience working with Slavic manuscripts in the Hilandar Library, under the guidance of Predrag Matejic, was also excellent preparation for my library work in archives and special collections.

What was most impactful, though, was the fact that these professors and many others took the time to invest in my development as a scholar. Charles Gribble was especially generous with his time, patience, wisdom, and mentorship.

Now, I strive to "pay it forward" in my role as a library professor, by investing time and effort into others.

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

I learned so much when I studied Russian in Moscow during my time at Ohio State. Of the three summers I spent there, one was on a FLAS fellowship from CSEES. 

My most memorable recent trip was in 2023, when I traveled to Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Tashkent and Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It was exciting to converse with locals in English, Uzbek, Persian, and Russian. In Almaty I posed for a photo op with Viktor Tsoi! In Samarkand I was thrilled to walk through such an ancient city, in the footsteps of scholars, poets, and saints, to eat the same foods that they may have eaten, and see the same types of birds, animals, and trees, and the very same buildings that they may have seen and written about.

4) What advice would you give to current or prospective CSEEES MA students?

1. Find the right balance between generalizing and specializing. 

In order to get the most out of an area studies degree, you have to find the right balance between being a generalist and a specialist. When I started in the CSEES program, I was all over the map, figuratively and literally! Dr. Gribble's advice to me was, "What you need, Mr. Menzies, is a PhD!" the idea being that if I specialized enough to earn the PhD, then this degree would unlock the door for my entry into the profession, after which I could diversify my interests and branch out. 

My CSEES masters program enabled me to explore fields and paths that I did not know existed. With guidance from my professors I was able to develop research and language skills while finding that balance between generalist and specialist. Eventually, I specialized in information technology and academic library work. This has unlocked the door for me to work as a university faculty member, while using a lot of the skills I began to develop at Ohio State.

2. Take advantage of your professors' willingness to invest in your success.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Ignore your imposter syndrome. Take the initiative and go to your professors' office hours. When I started at Ohio State I was thrilled to get into the Old Church Slavonic course taught by Dr. Gribble. I felt intimidated because my Russian was not very good, but I tried to make up for my lack of brilliance with hard work. I attended Dr. Gribble's office hours and took advantage of his help. I earned an A in the class, but more importantly I developed skills and received guidance that has helped me throughout my career. My program in CSEES enabled me to make connections with experts in different fields, who helped me to figure out my own path and to pursue my own research and career passions.

3. Keep in mind that this is not merely an intellectual or professional pursuit.

Dan Collins once shared with me that earning a graduate degree is not just an intellectual endeavor, but can be emotional and even spiritual. Whether you are preparing to go into international work, public service, or academia, earning a MA in CSEES can be a transformative experience. If you invest the time and energy into this program, you will find yourself changed. What you invest will only benefit you and your career, even if, like me, you end up going in a different direction than you first expected.