Our Team

Anna Vassilieva
Founding Director
Professor Anna Vassilieva is a Professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She is an educator, author, and translator, who has dedicated over three decades to advancing Russian studies and fostering cross-cultural understanding. Professor Vassilieva is the Founding Director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Peter Slezkine
Director of the Monterey Trialogue
Peter Slezkine is Director of the Monterey Trialogue. Peter Slezkine is Director of the Monterey Trialogue. He received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. He has been a fellow at East China Normal University in Shanghai, the Clements Center at the University of Texas, Austin, the Belfer Center at Harvard, and International Security Studies at Yale. His essays have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, The New Republic, and Russia in Global Affairs. He is currently completing a history of the concept of the “free world.”

Isabelle Boutaev
Graduate Assistant
Isabelle Boutaev received her BA in international relations and political economy from Franklin University Switzerland. Since then, she has worked as an intelligence analyst in the private sector, specializing in threat intelligence and risk analysis. She is currently a MA candidate in nonproliferation and terrorism studies, and a research assistant at the department of Russian studies, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Jiahui Lin
Graduate Assistant
Jiahui Lin received her BA in Translation and Interpretation from Beijing International Studies University, and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Conference Interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.