Rachel Schmalz is a first-year student pursuing a dual M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies & M.S. in Library and Information Science. She is also a 2024-2025 REEEC FLAS fellow studying Russian. Rachel is from Central City, Colorado, and earned her B.A. from Hastings College in Nebraska, majoring in History and Political Science. She was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Moldova in 2021-22 and lived in Comrat, Gagauzia. Before coming to Illinois, Rachel completed an M.A. in History at the University of Alberta in Canada. Her thesis focused on regional consciousness in the Crimean Peninsula from 1954-2022. She plans to continue researching the role of identity, nationalism, ethnicity, and citizenship in the former Soviet Union.