Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, will deliver a lecture at MIIS on Wednesday, October 21 from 12:15-1:50 PM in the videoconference room (V499) at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. His lecture will be entitled, “Russia, Ukraine, and the West: Causes and Consequences of the Current Conflict.” Mr. Rojansky’s campus visit is organized by the Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies at MIIS, whose Visiting Experts program brings experts on Russian foreign and domestic policy to Monterey.
Prior to his work at the Kennan Institute, Mr. Rojansky served as Deputy Director for the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In this capacity, Mr. Rojansky was responsible for founding Carnegie’s Ukraine program and for leading a multi-year project to support US-Russia cooperation in healthcare. He also created a track-two task force to promote the resolution of the Moldova-Transnistria conflict. As executive director of the Partnership for a Secure America, a position he held from 2007-2010, Mr. Rojansky coordinated high-level bipartisan initiatives with the goal of repairing the US-Russia relationship, strengthening US commitment to nuclear arms control and non-proliferation, and leveraging global science engagement for diplomacy. In addition to his work at the Kennan Institute, Mr. Rojansky is also an Adjunct Professor at both Johns Hopkins SAIS and American University.
Mr. Rojansky is the fourth of six lecturers who will visit the MIIS campus this semester through the GIRS program. The Visiting Experts program is a foundational element of the GIRS initiative, alongside three other objectives: a field research trip to the Russian Far East for MIIS and Middlebury students led by Professor Tsuneo Akaha; coordinating and supporting MIIS students in undertaking summer research and internship opportunities in Russia; and translating weekly public opinion polls conducted by the Levada-center from Russian to English. For more information on the list of upcoming experts for this semester and on the Initiative itself, please visit: http://www.miis.edu/academics/researchcenters/russian-studies