SSEES Alumni: Welcome

Welcome to the SSEES Alumni space. We're always pleased to see and hear from our former students, but we want to develop contacts and foster the broader SSEES community that encompasses both current and former students and staff of the School. As part of our expansion of alumni activities, I have become President of SSEES Alumni. Some of you know me already, but to those who don't I should introduce myself. I am formally Emeritus Professor of Russian Literature and Culture, but perhaps my main qualification for the role of President of SSEES alumni is my long association with the School.

It is hard to admit to this, but I first arrived at SSEES as a wet-behind-the-ears provincial ex-schoolgirl half a century ago. Over the years I have seen SSEES grow and change and watched many students pass through its doors. Like my colleagues I like to hear how they have prospered after SSEES. I hope my long experience at the School and my interest (shared by my colleagues) in what has happened to you will help bring the community closer together. This web page is part of that effort.

As you can see the alumni space on the SSEES website is partly informational, but it will also include items about SSEES Past and Present that we hope you will enjoy and some which should bring back memories.

I look forward to seeing some of you at events.

Faith Wigzell
President SSEES Alumni

Join us for an evening of film and food on 21st March, with Dr Phil Cavendish giving a talk on Aleksandr Sokurov's Russkii kovcheg (Russian Ark) followed by drinks and nibbles in the Masaryk Room.

This innovative film, shot in the Hermitage in St Petersburg in a single uninterrupted take, is full of allusions to Russian history and culture. Decoding the film was a challenge for many. Come and have the enigma unravelled.

Booking is now available for this event at: http://sseesalumnievents.eventbrite.com

We hope to see many of you there!

• Joining the Alumni Network
• What you get when you join
• Alumni in print and on the web
• NEW: SSEES Alumni Football Club
• How you can contribute to SSEES
• Contact us

Alumni Newsletter (Autumn 2012)
The current issue

Joining the Alumni Network

Since SSEES is now part of UCL, it is the College's Development Office that manages alumni activities such as registration, information dissemination, events for all UCL alumni or fund-raising. Any activities that relate to SSEES specifically, such as events or newsletters, are organized by SSEES. To receive SSEES-specific information, invitations, newsletters or information about your contemporaries beyond what is on the webpage, you need to join the UCL alumni network, even though you may be a graduate of the University of London rather than of UCL.

Who is eligible to join?

As long as you studied for more than 3 months at SSEES either before or after the merger with UCL you are eligible to join the Alumni Network. If you're not already a member, please use the link below and join. Signing up will help you stay in touch with your contemporaries, take advantage of the benefits offered to Alumni and receive regular newsletters and information on events.

How to register for the first time:

Please email alumni@ucl.ac.uk with your name (and former name if different), subject of study, year of graduation, postal address, telephone number, and, most importantly, your e-mail address.

If you were registered but have changed your contact details:

Log on to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/alumni/update-your-details and fill in the form.

What you get when you join

Registration gives you access to the following:

• Alumni Events
  So far we have held five events, in March and in October. Each followed the format of a short but entertaining talk on a topic relating to our area by a member of SSEES staff, followed by a party in the Senior Common Room. They have been very successful. For more details - reports and photos of the events: Alumni Events.

  The next event will take place on Thursday October 25th 2012. You can book for the event via the link provided above.

  The first event of 2013 will feature Dr Phil Cavendish talking about an aspect of Russian or Soviet film. More details to follow.

  As before, numbers are limited at all our events. Provided you have registered an e-mail address, you will receive specific details and an invitation in due course. Details will also be posted on this page of the website.

• Newsletters
  We produce newsletters a couple of times a year. These not only present SSEES news but also have a focus on student life at SSEES past and present. We are interested in any photos or reminiscences you might have about your experience as a student. Do rummage through your memorabilia and if you have anything you think suitable, please send it to alumni@ssees.ucl.ac.uk.

  Past issues:
  Alumni Newsletter (Spring 2012)
  Alumni Newsletter (Autumn 2011)
  Alumni Newsletter (Spring 2011)

• Use of SSEES Library

  As a SSEES graduate, you are entitled to join SSEES library and access UCL Library services. There are two types of ticket: reference only and reference + borrowing.

  For reference only access, you need to provide evidence of your status as a graduate (a copy of your degree certificate or transcript or your UCL Alumni Network card) plus proof of ID and home address. There is no charge for this ticket which must be renewed annually.

  If you want to borrow books as well (maximum of 5 books at one time) you need proof of status, ID and address as above, plus 1 passport photo. As with the reference only ticket, you must renew your ticket annually. This type of ticket costs £50 per annum.

  
  
  

• Learn another East European Language
  If you live within reach of SSEES and would like to add to or improve your knowledge of our languages, SSEES offers an unrivalled range of 18 languages taught at various levels in evening courses. As a registered alumnus you receive a discount.

  More details of Evening Courses

• Come to seminars and talks at SSEES
  You are welcome to attend talks, workshops and seminars at SSEES. To see what is on, go to the Seminars page.

Alumni in print and on the web

Wooden Churches: Travelling in the Russian North is a wonderful new book about the beautiful and often now sad and fragile churches of north-west Russia. With superb evocative photographs by Richard Davies and matching text by SSEES alumna Matilda Moreton (Mattie to those who remember her at SSEES), the book is a combination of travelogue, personal narratives, historical context and extracts from Russian poetry and prose It documents of a fading way of life and its monuments through words and pictures, and. If you love this part of Russian heritage, try to get hold of a copy. You can get a preview of the photographs by logging onto http://www.richarddavies.co.uk/woodenchurches/. The book is published by White Sea, price a very reasonable £40 given its size and quality. It can be bought from Daunt Books (Marylebone, Chelsea, Hampstead and Holland Park branches), from Pushkin House 5A Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2TA and from the new Russian dept of Waterstones in Piccadilly. The book is also available from Amazon, but through the 'More buying choices' link, when you will be ordering from White Sea itself.

Drawing the Curtain: The Cold War in Cartoons, edited by Frank Althaus and Mark Sutcliffe. Fontanka, 2012. Price £27.50

Together with Frank Althaus, alumnus Mark Sutcliffe (MA, PhD) founded the publishing house Fontanka , which produces books and catalogues for the Hermitage, Courtauld Institute and private collectors. Now they have edited Drawing the Curtain, a compelling story of Soviet and western relations during the Cold War, as told through cartoons and propaganda art. The seventy-five Soviet cartoons reveal the extraordinary obsessions and ferocious propaganda campaigns of the period, and are juxtaposed throughout with western cartoons on similar themes. Together they not only reveal one of the Cold War's most unlikely battlegrounds, but also highlight the remarkable similarities between each side's depiction of the other.

The book contains a foreword by Sergei Khrushchev (son of Nikita), essays by Timothy S. Benson, a leading authority on cartoons, and Polly Jones, formerly on the staff at SSEES, as well Igor Smirnov's glimpse of his life as a Soviet cartoonist. Drawing the Curtain is part art book, part post-war history. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, it offers a very different take on East-West relations in the second half of the twentieth century.

(Image courtesy of the publisher)

Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina, by Virginia Rounding
New York: St Martin's Press/London: The Robson Press, 2012

In the introduction to her new book, SSEES alumna Virginia Rounding reflects on trying to write something new about such well-trodden territory as the end of the Romanov dynasty: 'The analogy which comes most readily to mind when writing a new book about such apparently well-known yet still controversial figures is that of curating an exhibition of some already famous artist. Just as the curator endeavours to present a different view, through judicious, sometimes idiosyncratic, selection, juxtaposition, ordering, and even omission, so the biographer must select, consider, compare, and above all look with a fresh eye at what is already "known" as well as seeking out the previously "unknown". In so doing, curator and biographer may respectively light upon something that previous exhibitions and books have missed, some detail or a new way of seeing that may alter earlier perceptions. Through engaging closely with a number of texts, particularly diaries and letters - and sometimes looking at what is unsaid as much as what is said - I have aspired to come as close as possible to "penetrating the souls" of these two complex characters, while presenting the story of their "passion" (taken in both senses, of love and of suffering) in a way that I hope will pique the interest of both the Romanov expert and the general reader.'

Judging by comments in the Washington Times Virginia has not only succeeded in ensuring Alix and Nicky cannot be dismissed as old wine in a new bottle, but has brought them to life in flesh and blood perhaps better than any previous writer on the subject.

Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina will be available from 5th July in bookshops and from Amazon.

(Image courtesy of the publisher)

New web magazine Bturn

After taking an MA in Identity, Culture and Power at SSEES in 2011, Vukša Veličković (pictured) decided to integrate the foundations of his master's course with his existing experience in media by launching an international online magazine for Balkan culture and society. Bturn.com focuses on music, film, design and technology, as well as a range of socio-political issues, from education to sexuality. The magazine offers a fresh, straightforward approach to the various cultural complexities of the region in a truly international context. If you wish to discover new Balkan artists, DJs, music producers, designers and culturepreneurs, if you're keen on fresh artistic and cultural initiatives or want to witness the "madness" of Balkan everyday life, then Bturn.com is your destination. What's inside the punk museum in Ljubljana? Who is the artist who occupied the National gallery in Sarajevo? How does a London comedian portray the life of an Eastern European immigrant? What happens when Serbian ultra-nationalists organise a fashion show? And what do we mean when we say "Balkan"? All of these and many, many more, daily at http://bturn.com/.

(Images courtesy of the publisher)

SSEES Alumni Football Club

The rise of SSEES AFC has been triumphant in recent years; the club goes from strength to strength both on and off the field. The spirit, camaraderie and enjoyment of playing for SSEES is one of the things many have missed following their graduation. In a bid to address this, we have formed Euston Honvéd, an alumni club for all former SSEES students. The name is taken from the Hungarian club Budapest Honvéd and translates as The Euston Army. The club launched this season and is competing in the Central London Super Sunday League, playing home games at Regent's Park. We have made a successful start to the season winning two of our first three games at the time of writing. The club is a very social one encapsulating all of the great things about SSEES AFC and we always welcome new players, as we have ambitions to grow the club over the coming years. We are also very keen for sponsorship to help secure the future of the club. For more information visit our web site or contact manager Jonny Davies on 07772620905

How you can contribute to SSEES

Joining up to the SSEES Alumni Association means that you will be part of the overall UCL alumni network. Consequently, from time to time you may receive mail or telephone calls asking for donations. These are handled centrally from UCL. However, if you make it clear that any contribution is specifically for SSEES, the School will receive the money.

We would like to say a big 'thank you' to all those alumni who have felt able to contribute financially to the SSEES endeavour. We are frequently asked how the money is used. Money received goes to two vital areas of our work: small bursaries to support PhD students; and support to facilitate internships for both postgraduate and undergraduates. In an increasingly competitive world, we have found that internships offer graduates the kind of work experience that employers seek and often lead to full time employment.

The internship scheme is still in its infancy. Last year funds were allocated on a competitive basis to students on our International Master's programme who found an internship. We are now looking to expand this area of work. If you are an employer, or you work for an organisation that would be interested in offering internship opportunities for SSEES students, we would like to hear from you.

Contact us

SSEES Alumni Relations can be reached at: alumni@ssees.ucl.ac.uk
 

This page last modified Wednesday 13 March 2013.