Michael McFaul, the Montanan who served as the U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2012 until February 2014, will speak virtually about the situation in Ukraine at a virtual lecture set for 5 p.m. Monday, March 28. 

 

The event, part of the Honors Presents series offered by the MSU Honors College, is free and open to the public via Webex.

 

A recipient of an honorary doctorate from MSU in 2015, McFaul is the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in Political Science, director and senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, all at Stanford University. He was also the Distinguished Mingde Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Center at Peking University from June to August of 2015. He is an analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post. He recently discussed the Ukraine situation on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

 

McFaul earned his bachelor’s degree in international relations and Slavic languages and his master’s degree in East European studies from Stanford. He received a Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995 and became a professor and one of the world’s leading scholars on post-communist Russia.

 

Prior to his appointment as ambassador, McFaul spent three years as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs for the National Security Council and was key to Obama's Russia policy. Following his ambassadorship, McFaul returned to Stanford University as a professor of political science.

 

McFaul has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller, “From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.” His research interests include American foreign policy, great power relations between China, Russia and the United States, and the relationship between democracy and development. 

To learn more about Honors Presents go to: montana.edu/honors/honorspresents.html.