Weiser Fellows

Diana Dumitru is associate professor and head of the World History Department at the State Pedagogical University Ion Creanga in Chisinau, Moldova. Professor Dumitru received her PhD in history from S.P. University Ion Creanga in 2000. In 2003-04, she was a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; in 2005-06, she was a research fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. During a two-week stay at U-M in early February 2009, she will pursue research on the holocaust in Bessarabia and Transnistria and consult with her host advisor, Zvi Gitelman, professor of political science and Preston R Tisch Professor of Judaic Studies, as well as other faculty at the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.

Yelena Penchukova is executive director of the Marketing Center at the International Academy of Business in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Professor Penchukova received her MBA in 2005 from the joint Executive MBA program offered by IAB and the HEC School of Management in Paris. She will spend four weeks at U-M from mid-March to mid-April 2009 pursuing research on the role of cultural influences on specific consumer safety decision-making behavior with her U-M host advisor Andrew D. Gershoff, associate professor of marketing in the Ross School of Business.

Marek Rybar is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Professor Rybar received his MA in European studies from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and his PhD from Comenius University in 2005. During his four-week visit at U-M in February 2009, he will pursue research on Slovak political party democracy and competition in collaboration with his U-M host advisor Anna Grzymala-Busse, associate professor of political science.

Iryna Shkura is associate professor in the Finance and Banking Department at Dnipropetrovsk University of Economics and Law in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Professor Shkura received her PhD in Economics from Dnipropetrovsk University of Economics and Law in 2005, and was a Kirkland Scholar in Poland in 2007-08. She will spend four weeks in April 2009 doing research on methods of analyses of financial securities and consult with her host advisor, Barbara Peitsch, program director, School of Management, University of Michigan-Dearborn, and with professors at the U-M Ross School of Business and the William Davidson Institute.

Erika Zemkova is research associate professor in the Department of Sports Kinanthropology at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Professor Zemkova received her PhD from Comenius University in 1999. She has given numerous guest lectures at universities throughout Europe and was a Fulbright scholar at the NeuroMuscular Research Center at Boston University in 2005-06. During her four-week stay at U-M from mid-January to early February 2009, she will pursue research on the assessment of postural stability and the design of experimental and treatment protocols for sensory deficient patients and the elderly in collaboration with her U-M host advisor Kathleen H. Sienko, assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering.