Graduate student doubles up on research funding
Aug. 1, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- A Western Michigan University graduate student
who has been awarded grants from two national organizations to
conduct her dissertation research also has the distinction of
being the first WMU student to receive funding from these agencies.
Moscow native Ekaterina Levintova, a doctoral candidate in
WMU's Department of Political Science, received $20,000 in grants
from the International Research and Exchanges Board and the American
Council of Teachers of Russian.
In addition to being the first WMU student to receive these
two grants, Levintova is also the first political science student
to receive external funding, according to Dr. James M. Butterfield,
WMU professor of political science and Levintova's advisor. She
will use the awards for a nine-month trip to Russia to collect
data and consult with experts for research on the relationship
between public opinion and official discourse.
"These grants enable me to do thorough field research
in Russia on a very important topic," says Levintova. She
credits Butterfield, and dissertation committee members, Dr.
Vyacheslav G. Karpov, assistant professor of sociology, and Drs.
Steven T. Benfell and Emily Hauptmann, both assistant professors
of political science, for helping her with the grant proposals.
IREX, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and the
National Endowment for the Humanities, awarded Levintova $12,000.
IREX, the oldest funding organization for academic research in
the Soviet and East Bloc, provides fellowships to pre- and postdoctoral
scholars from the United States for long-term research in Central
and Eastern Europe.
Levintova's second grant, for $8,000, was awarded by the ACTR,
an organization seeking to strengthen communication between scholars
in Russia and the United States by advancing research and training.
"Few make it as professionals in the field of Russian
and East European studies without a grant signifying the value
of their work," says Butterfield, who is a specialist in
many aspects of Russian culture and politics. "Ekaterina
shows much promise as a budding scholar."
Levintova is the daughter of Tatiana Chekalina and Mikhail
Levintov of Moscow.
Media contact: Lisa Lueking, 616 387-8400
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