Project Updates

2009 Muskie fellows Aida Bazarkulova from Kyrgystan, Turan Jafarova from Azerbaijan and Vladimir Ivashchuk from Russia, all of whom are studying at Duquesne University, were recently featured in an article on the university's website.

The directors of Duquesne University's Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy and Donahue Graduate School of Business discussed the Muskie program in an recent article on the university's website. 2008 Muskie fellow Svetlana Doni from Moldova was also featured.

Since returning to his native Armenia, 2007 Muskie alumnus Vahan Danielyan has created a Russian-language website, Mojoclub.am, that provides information on blues music. The site features a history of the blues as well as video footage of blues greats, and aims to unite music lovers in Armenia and beyond. Vahan also plans to organize a blues festival to bring together musicians from Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and the United States.

2009 Muskie fellows Sopio Chakvetadze, Otar Kantaria, and Olena Mar'yenko recently had the chance to meet the first lady of Georgia, Sandra Roelofs Saakashvili, at the annual Taste of Georgia fundraiser organized by the Atlanta-Tbilisi Sister City Committee. The event, held at the Atlanta City Hall, was also attended by the Georgian Ambassador to the United States, Batu Kutelia.

Muskie fellow Ibragimdzhon (Ibrahim) Rustamov brings students at a local elementary school in Connecticut to different classrooms around the world.  In addition to studying Educational Technology at the University of Hartford, Ibrahim volunteers with 5th grade children at Aiken Elementary School.  Using the internet to connect them with their peers all over the world, Ibrahim aims to teach students both communication skills and important lessons about diversity and tolerance.

Nataliia Kravchenko, a 2009 Muskie fellow who is pursuing her master's degree in economics at Colorado State University, was recently profiled for a story on Colorado State University's website.

2009 Muskie fellow Sardorbek Musayev from Uzbekistan, who has been studying environmental sciences at North Dakota State University (NDSU), was recently featured on the NDSU's website.

In the summer edition of its magazine, Howard University profiles 2009 Muskie fellow Tsovinar Nazaryan from Armenia.  Read how a mass media course helped her come “to the powerful realization that the struggle to be heard and understood is universal.”  (article appears on page 15)

When teaching English in her native Azerbaijan, 2009 Muskie fellow Aygun Dadashdova facilitated cultural exchange by organizing pen pal relationships between her students in a village near Astara and American middle school students in Iowa.  As a Muskie fellow, Dadashdova has continued sharing her culture with others.

“Having studied the theory and practice from my professors here at school, it was worthwhile to see firsthand the situation in the trenches,” noted 2009 Muskie fellow Rashad Aliyev after a recent study trip to Brazil. Designed to provide Azerbaijani reformers with an opportunity to observe and learn from Brazil’s progress in education reform, the study tour was organized by the World Bank in collaboration with the Brazilian Ministry of Education.