Our students are the heart of RSW. We recognize that changes in graduate training—including faster times to completion and disciplinary demands—can undermine the accumulation of regional studies knowledge. Programming at RSW emphasizes making connections between scholars and students through a robust offering of lectures, film screenings, informal conversations, and telebridges that encourage conversation and questions; contributing resources and support to PhD students and MA students to attend the annual Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) conference; supporting graduate students from IU and across the country in their study of the Russian language at the Language Workshop; offering a PhD Writing Workshop, the Kruzhok, where students can support each other as members of a Russianist cohort at IU and receive diverse feedback on their work from Russia-focused peers and scholars; hosting our Graduate Methods Training Workshop biannually; and funding graduate student field research in Russia.