 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
SpotlightsCenters of Excellence
|
Translating Her Passion Inna Kassatkina '93 "I’ve never really left Orange County; I don’t think I’ve moved more than five miles in any direction from UCI (since 1990)," she says. At the start of the 1991-92 academic year, Kassatkina joined UC Irvine as its first Russian transfer student and was able to complete the linguists degree she had started at Moscow State University in just more than a year. As an international student, her tuition was at the higher out-of-state rate. "I had to pay the out-of-state tuition, which was a huge amount of money. So I tried to do my coursework as fast as I could. I had seven or eight classes during any given quarter," she says. Impressed by her professors and the enthusiasm with which they taught the fundamentals of language sticks out in Kassatkina's memory, but so does something else: The UC Irvine cafeteria. "Don’t laugh at that," she says. "The selection of food was so great compared to what I was exposed to back home. It was night and day." Today, Kassatkina leads a company of 12 full-time staff members and more than 100 language translation professionals that she co-founded in 1994 with a fellow countrywoman. In the early years, GLS offered basic Russian-to-English-to-Russian translation services. By 1998 the company expanded its services to those of a full-service agency that offers written translation services, interpretative services in more than 100 languages and consulting advice to local and several national Fortune 500 companies. "We have a very strong presence in the life sciences and health care industries," Kassatkina explains. "Our goal is to grow our services in two or three additional areas such as financial services and the legal industry and to grow our staff to at least 20-25 people. It's important that we continue to be not only a highly professional environment for those people to work in but also be a fun company to work for that cares about its people as individuals and not just as employees that come to work for us." Community is something that Kassatkina values outside of her office as well. "So many UCI alumni stay in Orange County which shows the strength of our community. I just recently became a member (of the alumni association) – and that’s one piece of advice I’d give to students and alumni – stay involved with the UCI community, especially if you are staying in the area." — Michelle Williams, UCI Alumni Association |
|
|
University of California, Irvine • Irvine, CA 92697 |
|
Inna Kassatkina came to the United States for one year in 1990 as part of a Russia-U.S. joint business venture in Orange County. That venture never got off the ground. Sixteen years later, Kassatkina finds herself less than five miles from the campus that quickly became home.