Professor; Program Head, Russian Studies; Director, Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies
Anna Vassilieva is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), head of its Russian Studies Program, and founding director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies. Professor Vassilieva’s research interests include contemporary Russian politics, U.S.-Russia relations, new formats of graduate education in international relations.
As director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, a graduate program funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Professor Vassilieva launched a Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia that is in its fifth year now. Professor Vassilieva produced The Ambassadorial Series, The Bridge (jointly with the National Security Archives), podcast series Geopolitics on the Move, among a number of other projects and initiatives. With faculty colleagues at MIIS, she pioneered the development and implementation of Monterey Model courses – teaching modules taught simultaneously in a variety of languages to advanced language speakers on a wide range of current topics.
Professor Vassilieva is an author, translator, and editor. She has written and translated widely in English and Russian.
Professor Vassilieva has been teaching at the Institute since 1990.
NPTG 8698
Directed StudyCourse Description
Student must obtain a faculty advisor, complete a Directed Study proposal form, obtain signatures, and submit to the Associate Dean of Academic Operations for approval.
Terms Taught
RULA 8416
TV Interviews: Close AnalysisCourse Description
During this seven week long course students will be taught close analyses (linguistic, political, cultural and sociological) of contemporary Russia through watching, reading and translating current interviews of the most prominent Russian journalists with a variety of representatives of Russian political and figuras elite. Students will be expected to advance their listening comprehension, to hone their translation skills and present their analyses of the interviews on the topics of professional specialization.
Terms Taught
RULA 8419
Public Speaking - Prof. TopicsCourse Description
During this seven week long course, students will learn and practice how to conduct professional research interviews, to present their individual research projects in a conference setting and how to do a video interview with TV media. The course will be implemented in a variety of formats, with a strong emphasis on work in pairs with a professor outside of classroom, as well as individualized analysis of video recordings of students’ individual performances in one- one- one setting. Students will be encouraged to match their presentations/ interviews topics with their graduate research in order to expand their professional vocabulary and hone skills of presenting and speaking in public.
Terms Taught
RULA 8461 Upcoming
Russia:SkillofStrategicEmpathyCourse Description
During the course, the students will employ a strategic empathy approach to media, literary, video materials that illustrate or attempt to explain positive attitudes to Russian War and support of the idea of Russia’s special way, special role in world history, and its messianic destiny, inside Russia. An attempt will be made to compare and juxtapose analyses produced by Russian intellectuals, who remain in the country, and those, who were forced to emigrate. The students will also attempt to discern historical and cultural roots in building the emerging political mythology and reflect on predominant western interpretations of those.
Terms Taught
RULA 8520 Upcoming
Individual Research ProjectsCourse Description
Students will identify the topic of their in-depth research that should complement their professional concentration. After devising individual study plans, students will be working with the professor in the format of individual consultations and presentations to peers in biweekly group meetings. Students will be working on a course paper or series of smaller pieces that would be making significant contribution to their professional development.
Terms Taught
Professor Vassilieva is the founding director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies (MIR), an innovative program funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and dedicated to enhancing the understanding of graduate students in the United States of Russia through direct interaction with leading U.S. and Russian scholars, journalists, and political figures. MIR also provides Institute students with opportunities to pursue professional internships in Russia and to conduct field research there. In summer 2017, Professor Vassilieva launched the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia (MSSR), a unique and highly competitive multi-week comprehensive program of study on different dimensions of Russian politics, history, economics, and culture conducted in English and Russian by leading U.S. and Russian experts.
Ph.D. in history, Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation
B.A., Irkutsk State Linguistic University
| by Sierra Abukins
Each year, a small group of graduate students and early-career diplomats are selected to study with the leading intellectuals and practitioners in Eurasian Studies, including experts from the post-Soviet states.
Video
| by Sierra Abukins
There has never been a greater need for constructive conversation between experts from the United States, Russia, and China—nor fewer spaces or opportunities.
| by Sierra Abukins
Intermediate Russian speakers can improve their language skills while also deepening their knowledge of Russian culture, history, and politics in this 5-hour course.
