Theodora Kelly McGee (Trimble)

  • Deputy Director, Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Education & Training

  • PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2017
  • MA, Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan, 2011
  • Dual BA, Russian Studies (Russian language), Slavic and East European Studies, West Virginia University, 2009

Courses Taught

  • First-year Russian
  • Vampire: Blood and Empire
  • Sci-Fi: East/West
  • Man and Superman: Superior Individual in Literature and Philosophy
  • Masterpieces of 20th Century Russian Literature

Representative Publications

Review of Mark Lipovetsky, Charms of the Cynical Reason: Tricksters in Soviet and Post- Soviet Culture. Slavic and East European Journal Vol. 56, No. 2 (Summer 2012).

Review of Rezo Gigineishvili, Alisa Khmel'nitskaia, dir. Without Men [Bez muzhchin, 2011]. Kinokultura 36 (April 2012).

Review of Sergei Kal'varskii, dir. Martsefal', 2012. KinoKultura 40 (April 2013).

Entry for Konstantin Ershov, Georgii Kropachiov, dir. Vii, 1967. Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2. Ed. Birgit Beumers, Bristol: Intellect, 2013, 159-160.

Entry for Aleksandr Strizhenkov, dir. Liubov'-Morkov' (trilogy), 2007-2011. Directory of World Cinema: Russia 2. Ed. Birgit Beumers, 202-204.

Research Interests

  • Russian popular culture
  • Soviet comedy film
  • Celebrity and stardom
  • Contemporary Russian cinema
  • Russian culture in America

Representative Conference Presentations

“Russian Television and Sex and the City On Screen.” Television in Europe Beyond the Iron Curtain. Friedrich-Alexander-Universitet, Erlangen, Germany. December 2013. 

“Thaw Cinema and the Typecast Star: Aleksandr Dem'ianenko as Shurik.” ASEEES, Boston, MA. November 2013. 

“Representations of Blood in The Vampire Diaries.” Blood Conference, Department of French and Italian, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. October 2012.

“Shattering Sexual Convention and Rules of Romance in Ugrešić’s Novels: “Bad Girl” Meets Bichette.” Midwest Slavic Conference, Columbus, OH. April 2012.

Employment Since Graduation

Deputy Director, Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey: https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/graduate-initiative-russian-studies
Convention Program Coordinator, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES): https://www.aseees.org/

Dissertation Title and Year

The Celebrification of Soviet Culture: State Heroes after Stalin, 2017