War in Ukraine

Volker Benkert: historian; Assistant Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Volker.Benkert@asu.edu; specializes in East Germany; he also teaches courses in the WWII online studies program.

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj: historian; Associate Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Anna.Cichopek-Gajraj@asu.edu; specializes in the history of modern Poland and Polish/Jewish relations, Holocaust and post-Holocaust studies, and history of antisemitism and ethnic violence.

Eugene Clay: historian; Associate Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Eugene.Clay@asu.edu; specializes in the religious history of Russia and Eurasia; Clay has spoken to Cronkite News about the current situation between Russia and Ukraine. 

Anna Holian: historian; Associate Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Anna.Holian@asu.edu; specializes in the cultural and social historian of twentieth-century Europe, with a special interest in the reconstruction of Europe after World War II; she has researched how Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish refugees in Germany had experienced Nazi and Soviet power during WWII.

Hilde Hoogenboom: literary historian; Associate Professor; School of International Letters and Cultures; Hilde.Hoogenboom@asu.edu; specializes in Catherine the Great, noble service culture, civil society, duty, and women writers, among other topics; she teaches an introductory Russian civilization course from the Tsars to Putin.

Jacob Lassin: humanities scholar; Postdoctoral Research Scholar; Melikian Center; jlfoassin@asu.edu; focuses on the intersection of religion, politics, literature and new media in Russia and the former Soviet Union; Lassin has given interviews in 2022 about the current situation between Russia and Ukraine.

Laurie Manchester: historian; Associate Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Laurie.Manchester@asu.edu; specializes in 19^th-Century and 20^th-Century Russian history; Manchester has taught an undergraduate history course on Stalin to Putin as well as the courses The Russian Empire and the Rise and Fall of Soviet Communism.

Yan Mann: historian; Clinical Assistant Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Yan.Mann@asu.edu; specializes in the Second World War and the Soviet Union.

Peter Schmelz: musicologist; Professor; School of Music, Dance and Theatre; Peter.Schmelz@asu.edu; specializes in 20th and 21st century music, and Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet music, among other areas; Schmelz’s recent book looks at the music of t-he late-Soviet and the late-twentieth century; he also looks at the music written during the Ukrainian Maidan revolution.

Laurie Stoff: historian; Honors Faculty Fellow; Barrett, The Honors College; Laurie.Stoff@asu.edu; specializes in Russian, East European, and women's and gender history and studies, and the history of war and society; Stoff focuses primarily on WWI.

Annika Binnendijk: political scientist; Professor of Practice; School of Politics and Global Studies; abinnend@asu.edu; has worked at RAND leading research and analysis on national security decision making, at the US Department of State advising the Secretary of State on policy questions related to Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the Caucasus, and NATO; while at State, she served a rotation as Director for Russia at the National Security Council.

Lenka Bustikova: political scientist; Associate Professor; School of Politics and Global Studies; lenka.bustikova@asu.edu; she specializes in party politics, voting behavior, clientelism, and state capacity, with special attention to Eastern Europe.

Margaret Hanson: political scientist; Assistant Professor; School of Politics and Global Studies;  margaret.c.hanson@asu.edu; she specializes in autocracies, with an emphasis on the former Soviet Union, particularly Central Asia (Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan); Hanson focuses on the role of law, courts, and corruption.

Victor Peskin: political scientist; Associate Professor; School of Politics and Global Studies; Victor.Peskin@asu.edu; he is particularly interested in the political and philosophical battles between international war crimes tribunals and states implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Candace Rondeaux: political scientist/analyst; Professor of Practice; School of Politics and Global Studies; Candance Rondeaux@asu.edu; specializes in security sector reform, governance, and electoral politics in conflict settings; Rondeaux has conducted research on Soviet and post-Soviet affairs, including on the Wagner Group, a paramilitary group linked to the Kremlin.

David Siroky: political scientist; Associate Professor; School of Politics and Global Studies; david.siroky@asu.edu; he has written on what Putin wants in Ukraine; his research focuses on globalization, territorial integrity, territorial disputes, and political geography, particularly in the former Soviet Union.

Orde Kittrie: lawyer; Distinguished Professor of Practice; Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law; Orde.Kittrie@asu.edu; received the Serge Lazareff Prize, NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (award presented for exceptional contributions to NATO in the legal arena), 2021; specializes in international law, nonproliferation, lawfare, and international business transactions; before entering academia, he served for 11 years at the Department of State; as the State Department’s lead nuclear affairs attorney, he helped negotiate five U.S.-Russia nuclear agreements and a UN treaty to combat nuclear terrorism; Kittrie also served as director of the State Department’s Office of International Anti-Crime Programs, as the Department’s lead attorney for strategic trade controls, and as a lead attorney for public affairs and public diplomacy; he also served as special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for economic, business, and agricultural affairs.

AMB Clint Williamson: lawyer and former diplomat; Distinguished Professor of Practice, Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law; John.C.Williamson@asu.edu; he received a $2.6 million grant from the US State Department for advancing transitional justice in Ukraine and Sudan; specializes in civil law, national security, and a war crime.

David A Merkel: has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; Director for South and Central Asia Affairs at the National Security Council; Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council; and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the US Treasury Department. He also served as International Counselor to the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and the Josef Korbel School of International Studies Social Science Foundation at the University of Denver.

Steven Corman: strategic communications specialist; Professor; Hugh Down School of Human Communication; steve.corman@asu.edu; specializes in strategic communication, counterterrorism, organizational communication, among other areas; Corman’s research includes a project called “Detecting the Russian playbook in news framing.”

Agnes Kefeli: religious studies specialist; Clinical Professor; School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies; Agnes.Kefeli@asu.edu; specializes in Islam of Eurasia and Central Asia; Kefeli particularly researches Islam in Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

Saule Moldabekova Robb: linguist/language specialist; Senior Lecturer; School of International Letters and Cultures; Saule.Moldabekova@asu.edu; specializes in second-language and heritage-language teaching, specifically Russian; she teaches a fourth-year undergraduate course on Russian Mass Media