UofL News: Describe what life was like for you during the Bosnian war.

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: Sarajevo is in a valley with mountains all around. The city was under siege, the enemy and snipers were everywhere. You really could not leave your house in the beginning, but when something like this lasts for years, you adjust and go on. At first, we stopped our lives but then we had to pick up and learn a new way of living.

I was in my second year of dental school when the war started. There was no electricity, and I studied by candlelight. Focusing on school was my escape, it is what kept me going. You have to connect to something to keep your sanity.

We were growing food in our park and food was deficient, there was sparse humanitarian aid, but we all shared what we had. We also didn’t have running water, but they were drilling pumps and you knew where to go to pump water. Containers at intersections were our cover from snipers, and it was a leap of faith to get the water because you never know if a grenade would strike. I prayed if it is my time to go, I would go quickly.

UofL News: How did you escape the city?

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: My parents and I agreed that if I had a chance to leave, then I should leave. It was a very thought-out decision because when you left, you knew you couldn’t go back while the war was going on. The city was closed, but a tunnel had been dug under the Sarajevo airport that led to a small house on the other side. I had to bend myself to go through the 800-meter tunnel, and when you went through it, you were free. I left in September 1995, before an agreement was signed to end the war later that same year.

UofL News: What was the process of getting to the United States?

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: I applied for a resettlement program in Croatia, and went through a very long process that involved interviews, paperwork and medical exams. After four months, I was able to get a visa to come to the United States. My cousin was a medical doctor working in research at the Brown Cancer Center and I stayed with her a few months before landing a job as a dental assistant at Pierce and Mitchell located in south Louisville. They trained me on the job.

UofL News: Talk about how you came to dental school at UofL.

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: I went for a visit at the dental school and ran into faculty members Wood E. Currens and Anne Wells who encouraged me to apply for UofL’s DMD program. I was accepted, and during school I continued my relationship with Pierce and Mitchell, joining the practice as an associate after graduation in 2002.

UofL News: What made you come back to UofL as a faculty member?

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: When I came to Louisville everyone accepted me and it was the same with the university – it mimics our city. In 2008, I was offered a faculty position. I really loved UofL and found a passion for teaching.

UofL News: Now you are leading the school’s Student Affairs Office. What is that like for you?

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: I think of my life as having experienced a lot of luck that I could not have planned. In 2020, Dianne Foster retired from this position and Dean (Gerard) Bradley offered me the job. It feels as though I have come full circle. I was a student here, a clinical team leader and a member of the admissions committee both as a student and as a faculty member. The clinic is the heart of the school and because I understand how the clinic breathes, I am able to answer many questions of prospective and current students. As an administrator, I still work a half day each week in clinic, which gives me credibility with students and provides opportunity to keep teaching.

UofL News: You’ve faced a lot of adversity in your life, how has that affected you?

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: I never thought of my life as difficult. I would not change anything in my life because it made me who I am. I think if things were different, I would regret it. The fact that I was able to finish my dental education and have had a great career – I would not change a thing.

UofL News: Talk about your impact on students.

Ljaljevic-Tucakovic: I love mentoring students. When I was a team leader, I got the sense when someone needed help – it was like being a clinical parent. Now as an administrator, I still try to connect. I love this office because we all have different perspectives. Our job is to help students succeed, and I am here to do just that. If they need me, I hope they know I am here for them.

She is spending the summer in the Netherlands, working at the Office of the Prosecutor at the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

This judicial body was established in 2010 to wrap up residual issues related to the Bosnian War and the Rwandan Civil War, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the 1990s, Rastoder’s father fled Bosnia during the fall of Yugoslavia. He made his way to an Italian refugee camp and eventually to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his parents and sister later joined him. He met his wife in Bowling Green, where Rastoder was later born.

The office where she’ll be working focuses on post-litigation of Yugoslavian war criminals. Proficiency in the Bosnian language was a requirement for the position, and Rastoder had grown up with the language.

“This is the opportunity to do what I’m really interested in and also have a personal tie to it,” she said.

Rastoder has long felt a pull to international and humanitarian issues. She double majored in Arabic and international studies as an undergrad and is now a Human Rights Advocacy Fellow at the Brandeis School of Law. The Human Rights Advocacy Program works to advance the rights of immigrants, non-citizens and refugees. Rastoder had considered pursuing careers in diplomacy or international affairs, but ultimately decided to focus on international law.

“I wanted somewhere to apply my interests in languages, other cultures, humanitarianism – international law is where it all tied-in,” she said. “It hasn’t been an easy path, but I’ve never doubted that I’m on the right path.”

She is grateful to Brandeis Law professor and international law expert Sara Ochs for her encouragement and professional advice.

Ochs says the opportunity is incredible.

“She’ll be doing very unique international law work that I don’t know that she’d have the opportunity to do in the United States,” Ochs said. “Plus, she’ll have the chance to be at the Hague and among the international law elite.”

International criminal law is not often a big focus in the United States, Ochs says, but she is excited to teach a course on the topic in the 2022-23 academic year.

“Many people, especially Americans, don’t realize how vital international law is until it’s violated,” she said, pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an example.

For Rastoder and her family, the importance of international law is not abstract. Her parents are “super excited” for her job, she says.

“They know this has been a dream of mine.”