In 2012, Ross Ufberg ’07 co-founded New Vessel Press, a publishing firm that specializes in translating foreign literature into English. And he’s pursuing a doctorate in Slavic languages at Columbia University, working on Russian and Polish literature.
Ufberg built a foundation for those passions at Hamilton, where he double-majored in Russian studies and comparative literature. A paper he wrote his first year first sparked his interest in translation. In it, he compared different translations of War and Peace.
As a Hamilton student, Ufberg spent a year in St. Petersburg.
“I learned so much, from books and from people, about life, language, literature, culture, friendship, romance. There's nothing that prepares you for a career more than an interesting and curious life, and that year in Russia was certainly a very big step in the right direction,” he says.
Ufberg realized soon into his college career that he wanted to continue working with literature after graduation.
“I did know literature wasn't a field of study for me. It was much more than that, it was my life, where I found inspiration and meaning and ethics, too,” he says. “I knew my life had to be immensely involved in literature.”