Audio/Video

Speaker Name: Robert Legvold

Date: October 28, 2014

Robert Legvold is Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, where he specialized in the international relations of the post-Soviet states. He was Director of The Harriman Institute, Columbia University, from 1986 to 1992. Prior to coming to Columbia in 1984, he served for six years as Senior Fellow and Director of the Soviet Studies Project at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. For most of the preceding decade, he was on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Tufts University. He received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1967. 2008-2010 he was project director for “Rethinking U.S. Policy toward Russia” at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 2009-2012 he was director of the “Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative” sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and co-chaired by Sam Nunn, Wolfgang Ischinger, and Igor Ivanov.

(Original biography from: Columbia University)

Speaker Name: Joshua Rubenstein

Date: October 21, 2014

Joshua Rubenstein was on the staff of Amnesty International USA from 1975 to 2012 as New England Coordinator and Northeast Regional Director. He was also Scholar-in-Residence at Facing History and Ourselves in 2012 and 2013. He is a long-time Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Working as an independent scholar, Rubenstein is the author of Soviet Dissidents, Their Struggle for Human Rights and Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary’s Life. Mr. Rubenstein is the co-editor of Stalin’s Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and of The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov.

Speaker Name:  Kevin Ryan

Date: October 14, 2014

Brigadier General Kevin Ryan (U.S. Army retired) is Director, Defense and Intelligence Projects at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, a Masters degree in Russian Language and Literature from Syracuse University and, a Masters degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College.  Ryan has been a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy and was Vice President for Business Development at iRobot Corporation. He is a member of the Board of the American Councils for International Education (ACTR/ACCELS) and a member of the Belfer Center Board of Directors.  He is a member of the Kennedy School’s MPA Admissions Committee.  Ryan was the founding director of the center's U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, where he continues to facilitate U.S.-Russian cooperation and lead the “Elbe Group.”  He was previously Executive Director for Research of the Belfer Center from 2010 to 2013. He is the author of over 20 articles and book chapters on various leadership and security topics.

Speaker Name: David A Kalis

Date: October 7, 2014

David A Kalis grew up in the Boston suburbs. He earned his B.A. in Soviet East European Studies from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Following his graduation from Tufts University, he spent two and a half years abroad in Russia which formed the basis for his memoir and ensuing career choices. Having worked at Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, and many small firms, David has experience focusing in areas of marketing, promotion, budgeting, and sales. In 2006, after many years of talking about the idea of writing his story, he finally began the work. Vodka Shot, Pickle Chaser is the culmination of combing through his experiences, organizing his thoughts, and presenting his journey and the life lessons he learned along the way.