New Podcast Focuses on U.S.-Russia-China Relations
| by Sierra Abukins
The Monterey Trialogue’s new podcast features conversations about the USA-China-Russia relationship with experts on and from each country.
Anna Vassilieva
Professor; Program Head, Russian Studies; Director, Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies
- Office
- McGowan Building MG208
- avassili@middlebury.edu
Anna Vassilieva is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), head of its Russian Studies Program, and founding director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies. Professor Vassilieva’s research interests include contemporary Russian politics, U.S.-Russia relations, new formats of graduate education in international relations.
As director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, a graduate program funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Professor Vassilieva launched a Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia that is in its fifth year now. Professor Vassilieva produced The Ambassadorial Series, The Bridge (jointly with the National Security Archives), podcast series Geopolitics on the Move, among a number of other projects and initiatives. With faculty colleagues at MIIS, she pioneered the development and implementation of Monterey Model courses – teaching modules taught simultaneously in a variety of languages to advanced language speakers on a wide range of current topics.
Professor Vassilieva is an author, translator, and editor. She has written and translated widely in English and Russian.
Professor Vassilieva has been teaching at the Institute since 1990.
Courses Taught
NPTG 8698
Directed Study
Course Description
Student must obtain a faculty advisor, complete a Directed Study proposal form, obtain signatures, and submit to the Associate Dean of Academic Operations for approval.
Terms Taught
Spring 2024 - MIIS
RULA 8419
Public Speaking - Prof. Topics
Course Description
During this seven week long course, students will learn and practice how to conduct professional research interviews, to present their individual research projects in a conference setting and how to do a video interview with TV media. The course will be implemented in a variety of formats, with a strong emphasis on work in pairs with a professor outside of classroom, as well as individualized analysis of video recordings of students’ individual performances in one- one- one setting. Students will be encouraged to match their presentations/ interviews topics with their graduate research in order to expand their professional vocabulary and hone skills of presenting and speaking in public.
Terms Taught
Fall 2020 - MIIS, MIIS Second Half of Term
RULA 8461
Current
Russia:SkillofStrategicEmpathy
Course Description
During the course, the students will employ a strategic empathy approach to media, literary, video materials that illustrate or attempt to explain positive attitudes to Russian War and support of the idea of Russia’s special way, special role in world history, and its messianic destiny, inside Russia. An attempt will be made to compare and juxtapose analyses produced by Russian intellectuals, who remain in the country, and those, who were forced to emigrate. The students will also attempt to discern historical and cultural roots in building the emerging political mythology and reflect on predominant western interpretations of those.
Terms Taught
Fall 2024 - MIIS
RULA 8520
Current
Individual Research Projects
Course Description
Students will identify the topic of their in-depth research that should complement their professional concentration. After devising individual study plans, students will be working with the professor in the format of individual consultations and presentations to peers in biweekly group meetings. Students will be working on a course paper or series of smaller pieces that would be making significant contribution to their professional development.
Terms Taught
Fall 2020 - MIIS, Fall 2021 - MIIS, Spring 2023 - MIIS, Fall 2024 - MIIS
Areas of Interest
Professor Vassilieva is the founding director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies (MIR), an innovative program funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and dedicated to enhancing the understanding of graduate students in the United States of Russia through direct interaction with leading U.S. and Russian scholars, journalists, and political figures. MIR also provides Institute students with opportunities to pursue professional internships in Russia and to conduct field research there. In summer 2017, Professor Vassilieva launched the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia (MSSR), a unique and highly competitive multi-week comprehensive program of study on different dimensions of Russian politics, history, economics, and culture conducted in English and Russian by leading U.S. and Russian experts.
Research Centers
Academic Degrees
Ph.D. in history, Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation
B.A., Irkutsk State Linguistic University
News Feed
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The Monterey Trialogue: A Distinct Take on Superpower Diplomacy featuring Anna Vassilieva and Peter Slezkine
On the Midd Moment podcast, Anna Vassilieva and Peter Slezkine talk about their work shaping the Monterey Trialogue. This project brings together leading experts from the United States, China, and Russia for in-depth discussions of their countries’ interests and concerns in the vital regions of the world.
Upcoming Summer Symposium on Russia Offers a New Model for International Education
| by Sierra Abukins
Each year, a small group of graduate students and early-career diplomats are selected to study with the leading intellectuals and practitioners in Eurasian Studies, including experts from the post-Soviet states.
Video