Description:

Join the Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies (WCCIAS) for a special guest speaker event. Former U.S. Ambassadors Marie Yovanovitch and Ian Kelly (WCCIAS Amb. in Residence) in conversation on her best-selling memoir as well as
Russia's war against Ukraine. Moderated by WCCIAS director Ian Hurd.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 

The Great Room | 600 Haven St, Evanston, IL 60208

4:30pm – reception

5:00pm – discussion

6:00pm – book signing

Open to the public.

Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch (ret) is the author of a New York Times best-selling memoir, Lessons from the Edge. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a non-Resident Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University. Previously, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011), and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). She also served as the Dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State and as the Deputy Commandant and International Advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University. Earlier she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she coordinated policy on European and global security issues. Yovanovitch is a graduate of Princeton University where she earned a BA in History and Russian Studies. She studied at the Pushkin Institute and received an MS from the National Defense University.

Ambassador Ian Kelly (ret) is Ambassador in Residence with the International Studies Program at Northwestern (2018-2024). He is a retired senior foreign service officer who last served as the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia (2015-2018). He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 2010 to 2013. Prior to his ambassadorships, Kelly held a variety of high-level roles at the U.S. State Department, including serving as the Department spokesman under Secretary Hillary Clinton and as Director of the Office of Russian Affairs. Before joining the State Department, he earned a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Columbia University.

Ian Hurd is Director of WCCIAS and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern. His research and teaching focus on international law and politics in theory and in practice and on political science research methods. His latest book, How to Do Things With International Law (Princeton 2017), examines the ideology of the rule of law in international affairs. His earlier work on the UN Security Council includes the prize-winning After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the UN Security Council (Princeton 2007). Hurd is a frequent contributor to public debates on global affairs, foreign policy, and international law. He earned his PhD in Political Science from Yale University and has been at Northwestern since 2008.