Jonathan Samen Hot Buttons, Cool Conversations Discussion Series

Charles A. Kupchan is Professor of International Affairs in the School of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown University, and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  From 2014 to 2017, Kupchan served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council in the Obama White House. He was also Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during the first Clinton administration.

Carol R. Saivetz is a Senior Advisor at MIT’s Security Studies Program, and a Research Associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Ukrainian Research Institute. She has a PhD from Columbia University in Political Science and has authored 5 books and numerous articles on Soviet and Russian foreign policy. Professor Saivetz’s research focuses on security in the Black Sea region, Russian policy towards Iran, and US-Russian relations. She is the co-chair of MIT’s “Focus on Russia” seminar series and has consulted for the US Government on energy politics in the Caspian and Black Sea regions, stability in Central Asia, and Russian policy towards Iran.

Andrew S. Weiss is the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research on Russia and Eurasia. Weiss’s career has spanned both the public and private sectors. He previously served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a policy assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.

Alexandra Vacroux is Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarly work addresses many Russian and Eurasian policy issues and she teaches popular courses on the comparative politics of Eurasia and post-Soviet conflict. As Director of Graduate Studies for the Davis Center’s MA program in regional studies, she has mentored dozens of Harvard’s best and brightest students and regional experts.