Alyssa Virker

Alyssa Virker (she/her) is a PhD student in the Slavic Languages and Literatures department, specializing in Ukrainian and Yiddish literatures. Her current research project is in collaboration with SUCHO (Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online) and is aimed at preserving the work of Ukrainian visual poetry on social media during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She is committed to using her academic work to contribute to the decolonization of the field of Slavic studies as well as to the deimperialization of international perceptions of Eastern Europe. Her doctoral research employs methodologies of Digital Humanities to explore the connections between national literatures, narratives of national self-identification, and political ideologies. Alyssa also serves as the Digital Media Vice President of the Ukrainian Students Association at Stanford. Outside of her academic work, Alyssa can be found combating Russian propaganda narratives and raising aid for Ukraine with partners including Razom for Ukraine, Mission Kharkiv, and United 24. Prior to coming to Stanford, Alyssa received her B.A. in English and Comparative Literary Studies at Occidental College.