NORA WILLIAMS, norawebbwilliams@gmail.com

Nora Webb Williams is a dual Master’s degree candidate in Public Affairs and Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. Her primary research interest is protest mobilization in Bishkek, in particular during the events of April 2010; she intends to conduct a survey to better understand how individuals were motivated to join the collective action. Based out of AUCA, her research is sponsored by a 10-month-long Fulbright grant.

Nora received her Bachelor’s degree in Russian from Middlebury College in 2006. She then joined the United States Peace Corps until the spring of 2009, teaching English for two years as a volunteer in northern Kazakhstan. After the completion of her service in Kazakhstan she spent two months in Liberia with the Peace Corps Response program. Since beginning her studies at Indiana University, Bloomington in the fall of 2009, Nora has served as the president of the International Public Affairs Association and as the chair of the newly-formed Women’s Central Eurasia Network. She has both organized and presented at conferences on the Indiana University, Bloomington campus. Nora speaks varying degrees of Russian, Kazakh, and Uzbek, depending on the day.