Events
Upcoming Events
“Courting Gender Justice: Russia, Turkey, and the European Court of Human Rights”
Political scientists and professors Valerie Sperling and Lisa Sundstrom discuss their
new book. Based on interviews with human rights activists and lawyers in Russia and
Turkey, the book explores the obstacles that confront Russian and Turkish citizens,
activists, and lawyers who try to bring gender discrimination cases to court. To shed
light on the factors that make rare victories possible, the book draws comparisons
among forms of discrimination faced by women and LGBT people in Russia and Turkey.
The talk will take place on Thursday, January 30, at 12:30-1:45pm, in the Marshall Student Center, Room 3707. Reception to follow.
This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.
Professor Ronald Suny at the Saint Petersburg Conference on World Affairs
The USF Institute on Russia is sponsoring the participation of Ronald Suny at the
Saint Petersburg Conference on World Affairs. A professor at both the University of
Chicago and the University of Michigan, Dr. Suny’s research has centered on the non-Russian
nationalities of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, particularly Armenia, Azerbaijan,
and Georgia. An expert on nationalities policy as well as the Armenian genocide, Dr.
Suny has received many awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.
February 18-21, USF-Saint Petersburg Student Center
Dr. Suny will serve on several panels at the three-day conference
For a complete conference schedule, see https://stpetersburgconferenceonworldaffairs.com/
Anne Applebaum on “Disinformation and Democracy”
Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer-prize winning author with particular expertise in the
history of communist and post-communist Europe, a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where she co-leads ARENA, a research
project on disinformation and 21st century propaganda. She is the author of several
prize-winning books, including Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine and Gulag: A History. She was a foreign policy columnist for The Washington Post and correspondent for The Economist.
Wednesday, March 25th, 7:30pm at the Tampa Theatre in downtown Tampa.
This event is co-sponsored with the USF Humanities Institute
Belarus: Between Russia and the West
After Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, Belarus has emerged as a key strategic territory
between Russia and NATO. The conflict between Belarus and the Kremlin over bilateral
integration has led to a renewed dialogue with the EU and the United States, and on
the heels of a presidential election in Belarus that can potentially challenge the
25-year rule of Alexander Lukashenko. How will Belarus navigate the tensions between
East and West? This panel brings together leading experts on Russia and Eastern Europe
to discuss the prospects for democracy in Belarus and other post-Soviet countries.
Moderator: Dr. Tatsiana Kulakevich, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
Panelists:
1. David Kramer, Senior Fellow in the Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and
Diplomacy at FIU, former President of Freedom House and former Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
2. Rodger Potocki, Senior Director for Europe at the National Endowment for Democracy
in Washington, DC.
3. John Riordan, USAID Development Advisor to US Special Operations Command and
formerly Country Director, USAID Belarus Program.
Tuesday, April 7, 6:30pm, USF Alumni Center, Traditions Hall