What:

The war in Ukraine has been tearing apart families and the land itself, with explosions echoing across the country and millions of refugees fleeing to neighboring European countries. February 24 marks the first anniversary since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. American University experts are available for commentary on issues related to the war in Ukraine including U.S. foreign policy, conflict resolution and peace building, refugees and forced displacement, NATO and European politics, international finance and impacts of financial sanctions on Russia on global markets, the role of social media during conflicts and misinformation, and more.  

When:

February 22, 2023 - ongoing 

Experts available for comments include: 

Valentina Bruno is a professor of finance at the Kogod School of Business and holds a Ph.D. in finance from the London School of Economics. Her research interests include international finance, macro-finance, global liquidity, corporate governance, and banking. Prior to joining KSB, Bruno worked at the World Bank in the Financial Sector Strategy and Policy Group and in the International Finance Team. Bruno's research has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Financial Times, among others.  

Susanna Campbell is an assistant professor at the School of International Service and the director of the Research on International Policy Implementation Lab. She is an expert on state-building, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, international aid, and global governance and can discuss issues related to international aid delivery and long-term peacebuilding processes. Campbell previously worked at the United Nations, International Crisis Group, and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2018, she served as a senior advisor to the Congressional Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, mandated by the U.S. Congress. 

Keith Darden, associate professor in the School of International Service, is an expert on nationalism, state-building, and the politics of Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. His forthcoming book, Resisting Occupation in Eurasia, explores the development of durable national loyalties through education and details how they explain over a century of regional patterns in voting, secession, and armed resistance in Ukraine, Eurasia and the world. His award-winning first book, Economic Liberalism and Its Rivals, explored the formation of international economic institutions among the post-Soviet states, and explained why countries chose to join the Eurasian Customs Union, the WTO, or to eschew participation in any trade institutions.  

Eric Lohr is the author of Russian Citizenship: From Empire to Soviet Union and Nationalizing the Russian Empire: The Campaign Against Enemy Aliens during World War I. Lohr received his M.A. in Russian Studies and Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He is the James H. Billington Chair of Russian History and Culture at American University.   

James Goldgeier is a professor at the School of International Service. He is a Robert Bosch Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, and he serves as a member of the State Department Historical Advisory Committee. Goldgeier has held a number of public policy appointments, including director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council Staff, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress, and Edward Teller National Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  

Jane Hall is an associate professor in the School of Communication, specializing in researching, writing, and teaching about the intersection of media and politics. She is the author of the recently published book, Politics and the Media: Intersections and New Directions. In her book she explores the "CNN effect," of international news coverage of wars and humanitarian crises. Hall can discuss and critique war coverage of international networks and any mishaps they have made in covering the first major European war in decades. 

Garret Martin is the co-director of the Transatlantic Policy Center at American University.  He has written widely on transatlantic relations and Europe, security, U.S. foreign policy, NATO, European politics, and European foreign policy and defense. He is a frequent media commentator, providing analysis and interviews, among others, to NPR, the BBC, CNN, Voice of America, USA Today, WUSA, ABC News Australia, and France 24. 

Ghiyath Nakshbendi is a senior professorial lecturer at the Kogod School of Business. He is an expert in finance, microfinance, international business and the global marketplace. He has extensive international business experience and more than 35 years working in developmental financing, and Sovereign Wealth Funds. He can provide commentary on the divesture of Russian funds by sovereign wealth funds. 

Tazreena Sajjad, senior professorial lecturer at the School of International Service, is an expert on transitional justice, refugees and forced displacement, post-conflict governance, and the role of gender in conflict and peacebuilding. Her current research projects include examining the role of fortifications against irregular migrant flows, and refugee reception in the Global South. She currently serves as an advisor to Refugee Solidarity Network and is a faculty affiliate of The Transatlantic Policy Center and The Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.  

Jordan Tama is an associate professor in the School of International Service and specializes in U.S. foreign and national security policy, foreign policy bipartisanship, presidential-congressional relations, national security strategic planning, the politics of economic sanctions, the foreign policy views of U.S. elites, and the value of independent commissions. He is currently working on a book, Bipartisanship in a Polarized Age: When Democrats and Republicans Cooperate on U.S. Foreign Policy. 

Sherri Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Communication. Her expertise lies at the intersection of social media, social justice, mass media and how people of color use and are represented by these mediums. Williams can discuss the portrayal of Ukrainian refugees of African or non-European descent by the media, and offensive language used by broadcasters describing the war.