Professor brings worldly knowledge

by Mike Rosinski

Kate Transchel has taught history at Chico State since 1996, but outside of school she does not grade papers and prepare for class. Transchel has encountered adventures and dangers in her life that a textbook cannot match, from dangerous Mongolian guards to KGB interrogations. She is an example of why never to judge a book by its cover.

      Ø   The adventures of Kate Transchel

      Ø   Exploring Russian culture

She may not have the tattered brown hat, the signature quips or the hand-to-hand combat skills, but one professor at Chico State shares a special distinction with Indiana Jones.

Professor Kate Transchel, a history teacher at Chico State since 1996, has more in common with the whip-wielding hero than just a love for sifting through the shrouds of antiquity. She has also stared down the barrel of a Kalashnikov Rifle, been interrogated by the Russian secret police and trotted the globe in hopes of helping individuals.

The adventures of Kate Transchel

In 1999, while on the trans-Siberian railroad from Moscow to Beijing, Transchel came face-to-face with unadulterated fear. At the Mongolian border, Transchel’s train was stopped.

“I was the only American and the only woman in the first class car,” Transchel said. “A drunken Mongolian border guard, with a Kalashnikov Rifle, came into my quarters, reached over and grabbed my breast.”

With a little luck and some fast-talking, Transchel was able to extricate herself from the situation. After a two-hour delay, and in spite of the border guard’s best efforts to get Transchel off the train in the middle of the Gobi Desert, the wheels began rolling again. This is only one chapter in the catalogue of her adventures.

The next chapter took place in the dark and cold of Siberia. It was 11 p.m. and Transchel was startled to hear a pounding on her front door. It was the Russian secret police. (Formerly the KGB, now the FSB.) They whisked Transchel from the safety and comfort of her home to a bleak interrogation room.

“They couldn’t believe a woman, let alone an American woman, was in Siberia, on her own,” Transchel said. “They thought I was a spy.”

She pleaded with her armed interrogators and even resorted to telling them that she was well-connected and had friends in the embassy.

“They just laughed,” Transchel said. “They told me, “Katiya there is no embassy out here.’”

They released her that night with the understanding that she would return the next morning. When she got home, she found her house ransacked. The place was turned over top to bottom. She went in the next morning, met with the assailants, got released and was out of Siberia by the end of that next day.

Exploring Russian culture

Not all of Transchel’s experiences have dealt with fear and guns. She is an expert on Russian culture with a focus on alcohol abuse and has been helping Russians deal with their drinking-related problems for years.

“I am known by tens of thousands of Russians,” Transchel said.

On any given trip to Russia, Transchel would speak to thousands of people as a group and hundreds as individuals. She is the author of “Under the Influence: Working Class Drinking, Temperance and Cultural Revolution in Russia. 1895-1932.”

Not every adventure deals with peril and sometimes heroes don’t have to save the day with their fists.

Her students respect her and, generally, her classes fill up every semester. Her dedication to her work is reflected in the classroom.

“She makes class pretty fun,” said Jessica Cervenka, a graduate student who is working toward her own teaching credentials. “She must really love her job.”

Transchel, with all of her experiences both domestic and abroad, may be just a tattered brown hat away from a real-life Hollywood sequel.

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