We’ve just hired three new colleagues; we are very happy to welcome Yuliya Ladygina, Cyanne Loyle and Sommer Mitchell, all starting at Penn State next fall!

Dr. Ladygina holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Slavic Studies from the University of California, San Diego. Before joining Penn State, she was a Research Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute; and she taught at Williams College and Sewanee: The University of the South. Dr. Ladygina specializes in 19th- and 20th-century Russian and Eastern European literatures and cultures, including intellectual history, nationalism, cinema, and the state-sponsored informational warfare in contemporary Russia. Her monograph on Ol’ha Kobylianska’s literary oeuvre, Bridging East and West: Ol’ha Kobylians’ka, Ukraine’s Pioneering Modernist is forthcoming with the University of Toronto Press in fall of 2019.

Dr. Loyle is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Penn State and a Global Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Loyle’s current research focuses on transitional justice adopted during and after armed conflict. This research includes fieldwork in Rwanda, Uganda, Nepal, Northern Ireland, and Turkey. Dr. Loyle received her M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Stockton University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Maryland. Dr. Loyle is the co-Director of the Northern Ireland Research Initiative and co-creator of the Post-Conflict Justice (PCJ) and During-Conflict Justice (DCJ) databases. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Dr. Mitchell earned her Ph.D. in Government from the University of South Florida. Mitchell was Professional Development Specialist and Undergraduate Research Mentor, both with the Global Citizens Project at the University of South Florida. She also has experience as a Faculty Development Researcher at the Academy of Teaching and Learning Excellence at the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on international security, legitimacy, and private military and security companies. She has more than ten years teaching experience and has taught courses on globalization, human rights, and global conflict.