Three members of the HWS Russian Area Studies Program participated in the 38th national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Nov. 16-19 in Washington, D.C.

Judith McKinney, associate professor of Economics, presented a paper on “Russian Babies, Russian Babes: The Economic and Demographic Consequences of International Adoption and Human Trafficking for Russia.”

David Ost, professor of Political Science, participated in a roundtable discussion on “Solidarity and Populism in Poland before and after 1989,” and was honored with the Ed A. Hewett Prize for his recent book, “The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe,” published by Cornell University Press.

Kristen Welsh, assistant professor, presented a paper on “Black Magic and Bad Readers: Nabokov’s ‘Korol’Dama, Valet’ and the Creative Process,” and chaired a panel on “Identity in Soviet and Post-Soviet Popular Music.”

McKinney and Welsh also met with three alumnae working in D.C. at jobs that grew out of their involvement in the Russian Area Studies program: Tara Edlund ’04 and Donna Richardson ’05 both work for the federal government; Katie Corradini ’06 has just started a job with the American Council for Teachers of Russian.