Yulia Troussova, MA, MS

I credit my parents with instilling in me a love of learning and teaching me the value of a rigorous education. Raised in one of the most magical cities in the world, St. Petersburg, Russia, I was surrounded by great conversations, literature, art, and architecture from my early years. I brought my curiosity about the world with me to the United States when I moved here as a teenager. At Hunter College, I majored in history and international relations—the two related fields that gave me tremendous appreciation for the diversity and yet interconnectedness of our world. Wishing to gain more technical expertise, I then went on to earn an M.A. in International Economics and Policy Analysis at the University of Denver, followed by an M.S. in Finance at the University of Colorado. In addition, I continued to study multiple world languages, including French, Latin, and Japanese, which gave me tremendous appreciation for the importance of formal grammar instruction!

I spent the first thirteen years of my professional career as an analyst in the consulting and international banking sectors. I was charged with monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting economic, financial, and political trends for a variety of countries to evaluate international investment and lending opportunities and to qualify the risk. Thirteen years ago, however, a series of unexpected events led our family to homeschooling, and I threw myself into a new, even more demanding, yet even more rewarding career—a homeschool teacher to my two sons. Homeschooling them through 12th grade allowed me to indulge my inner lifelong student! Throughout all these years, I tutored students in elementary school through college in math, reading, writing, history, and economics.

I live in Colorado, and in my free time I love reading and discussing books, trying new recipes, going on long walks with my husband and our dog, watching theater performances, skiing with my family, or volunteering. I enjoy a variety of books, but most often I gravitate towards novels in translation, as they not only allow me to travel vicariously but also to encounter different storytelling traditions. My family loves to travel together; we have visited over 20 countries and are nearing our goal to visit all 50 US states.

On teaching: I believe that good education is reliant on ongoing conversations between a mentor and the students. Therefore, I strive to make my classes as interactive as possible with extensive student participation and a variety of learning activities that permit us to examine the material from different angles. New material is always connected to the previously learned concepts, allowing for review and creating a wider context for new knowledge. Detailed, individualized feedback is crucial for learning; I strive to provide such feedback and offer my students ample opportunities for revising their work to master the material.