The Harriman Institute

Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies at Columbia

Tito and Khrushchev at the UN"Perestroika: In the Beginning was the Word" exhibit by Natasha and Valera CherkashinPrealpes (1971). Photograph by Horst Tappe
People
Alumni
The Harriman Institute is proud of its alumni who have gone on to positions in government, academia, business, NGO's, human rights groups and other ventures.

These are just a few of our many distinguished alumni. Please visit this page often for a different sample.

For alumni interested in supporting the Harriman Institute, please click here for more information.

Selected alumni of The Harriman Institute
Jack F. Matlock Jr.

RI ‘52
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991

"The Russian Institute gave me a solid foundation--and a flying start--in a lifelong career dealing with Russia and the Soviet Union. The Institute's interdisciplinary, area-focused approach was ideally suited for one who needed to understand the whole society, not just a single aspect."

George S. N. Luckyj

RI '51
(deceased)

"I remember with great fondness Philip Mosely, the late director of the Institute and a teacher at Columbia, who encouraged me in my work on 'Litarary Politics in the Soviet Ukraine,' a topic which, in those days, was viewed by some as dealing with 'the lunatic fringe' (Ukraine)."

Robert O. Freedman

RI '65
Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science
Baltimore Hebrew University

"I think that my studies at the Russian Institute were perhaps the best intellectual experiences I have had in my life, given the fact that I had the opportunity to study with such 'greats' as Zbigniew Brzezinski (my dissertation advisor), Alexander Dallin, Alexander Erlich, John Hazard and many others."

Hope Harrison

HI ‘91
Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, George Washington University

Willis Sparks

HI '04
Global Macro Associate, Eurasia Group