The new history professor is adjusting to life at OCU.
With a new school year came new faculty members, one being history professor Natalia Starostina, Ph.D. Coming to OCU from her former job in Georgia, Dr. Starostina said she has enjoyed her time here so far.
“I love to work with diverse groups of students, and that is very unique about Oklahoma City University, that we have so many students who are from various countries; it is such a privilege to work with students who represent so many different cultures and bring so much diversity,” Starostina said.
Starostina also said how much she has enjoyed developing friendships with her colleagues.
“I very much enjoy my interactions with my colleagues, specifically Professor Sabina Amanbayeva, who is a professor of English,” Starostina said. “She has been a fantastic help and she is a wonderful friend and most dedicated friend I have met in my life.”
Along with Amanbayeva, Starostina said she has also enjoyed spending time with her students.
“I love sharing my knowledge with students and helping to expand their mind, and I love the fact that I can contribute to their success in life,” Starostina said. “I hope that from me, students can learn skills that will be very helpful in their professional careers.”
Lucas Freeman, history senior, said he has greatly enjoyed his new professor’s class this semester.
“I love Dr. Starostina’s excitement for both teaching and her students’ lives in general,” Freeman said. “She also brings in a lot of world history expertise and some really cool lived experiences from growing up in the Soviet Union.”
Starostina moved to the United States at a young age from what was the Soviet Union and is now Russia. She said she found her love for history through growing up in a time when so much was happening in her homeland.
“Through that, I realized how important history is for shaping a contemporary national identity, and so my interest in history originated from what was happening in that moment,” Starostina said.
Starostina said a fun fact about her is that she wrote poetry when she was in college, and had continued to write after college for a while, but has not done so lately due to her busy schedule. She also said her favorite movie is the 1995 film “French Kiss.”
“If I could give a piece of advice to any college students, I would say to learn as many foreign languages as you can,” Starostina said.
Starostina said she is happy here at OCU and loves being a part of the campus community.
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