Inna Sysevich

Instructor in Modern Languages
Appointed
1996

Everything you can imagine is real. — Pablo Picasso

Education

B.Sc. The National University of Ukraine, Kyiv

M.Sc. The National University of Ukraine, Kyiv

M.A.T. The National University of Ukraine, Kyiv

Biography

Born and raised in Kiev, when it was still in the Soviet Union, Mrs. Sysevich holds a B.S. in Biology, a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering, with focus on plant protection, and an M.A.T. from the National University of Ukraine.

Her education was “seriously rigorous” because the Soviet system needed reliable technocrats and employees to run the reconstructing country. While pursuing her M. Sc., the Chernobyl accident caused her and her husband to move away from Kiev to a small village. There she had her first job—teaching biology and chemistry, and she fell in love with it. When it was safe, they returned to Kiev, where her daughter was born, and Mrs. Sysevich continued teaching.

In 1992, she and her family emigrated to the US, and she started teaching Language Arts at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, New Hampshire. And three years later she was tapped to join Exeter’s well-established Russian program.

Since 1996, she has been the backbone, heart, and soul of the PEA Russian program.  She teaches all levels, and is the adviser to the Russian Club, which is renown for its end-of-year party—with all the culinary trimmings! Her goals are to teach the language, to make students familiar with the culture, and to lead them to think deeply about the human condition through the works of the Russian literature ‘giants.’  “These are texts that make us search our soul to find our own and the universal truths,” she posits.

She considers the dorm as one of her most important and cherished roles at PEA; she has been with Abbot Hall, a boys’ dorm, all her years here.  She has also been an applications reader for the Admissions Office for many years, a job she considers an important contribution to bringing to PEA the best students in order to create excellent classes.

With her husband, she loves to kayak on nearby lakes. She also loves the ocean shore, likes to travel, reads world literature, and keeps up with world economics and politics. Her advisees and students will tell you that she makes the best latkes and blintzes north of Boston!