The Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, is in the final phase of its first year. One of the goals of the project is to expose MIIS Russian Studies students to a wealth of data and analyses about Russia generated by contemporary Russian scholars and practitioners and to facilitate students’ active engagement with current and future leaders of the Russian policy and intellectual communities. We are happy to share that we have accomplished our goals!
In total, the visiting experts program brought seven scholars and policymakers to campus in 2013: Dr. Dmitry Trenin, Director, Carnegie Center, Moscow; General Vladimir Dvorkin, senior scientist, Center for International Security at the Institute of Economic and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences; Dr. Zhanna Zayonchkovskaya, Chief of the Laboratory of Migration, Institute for Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences; Dr. Andranik Migranyan, Director, Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, New York; Dr. Roza Otunbayeva, former President of the Kyrgyz Republic; Dr. Pavel Minakir, Director, Economic Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khabarovsk, and Dr. Alexei Malashenko, Senior Researcher, Carnegie Center, Moscow. These experts discussed a wide range of topics pertaining to Russia, including foreign and domestic migration, demographics, Russia’s security concerns, domestic factors affecting Russian foreign policy, Islam and Islamism in Russia, US-Russian relations, and Putin’s presidency. In addition to reaching Russian-speaking students in the Monterey community, the program has connected with a broader audience of students, researchers and policymakers through its online platform, http://sites.middlebury.edu/russianinitiative/.