256 VISITING RESEARCHER TO PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO RUSSIAN REGIME

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 7, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

American Democracy Project to Examine Issues of Migration and Civil Liberties

(MURFREESBORO) – Dr. Vladimir Mukomel, lead researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will speak at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building.
Mukomel will discuss the ethnic aspects of migration in Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s policies in the area of civil liberties. The presentation, titled “The Transformation of Russia and the Puzzle of Putin’s Policies,” is free and open to the public.
Mukomel is a well-known Russian sociologist and political scientist. He is the director of the Independent Center for Ethnopolitical and Regional Research and lead researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His major fields of interest and research include migration, ethnic and demographic policies, as well as the issues of democratization and creation of civic society in Russia.
The holder of doctorates in sociology and economics, Mukomel has published more than 120 academic works, including 13 books. He regularly comments on Russian politics for the Russian and international media.
This lecture will mark the first on-campus event for the American Democracy Project (ADP) since it acquired an international dimension this semester. The coordinators are Dr. Jim Williams, professor of history, who will handle domestic activities, and Dr. Andrei Korobkov, associate professor of political science, who will deal with international activities.
“The major idea is to encourage students’ civic engagement because we don’t want them to study life only in textbooks, but to prepare through experiential learning, through contact with real people,” Korobkov says. “We’ll be dealing with issues of human rights violations … and not only … somewhere else, but also in the U.S. and specifically here in … Tennessee.”
The ADP Web site describes the program as “an initiative of 219 AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities) campuses that seeks to create an intellectual and experiential understanding of civic engagement for undergraduates enrolled at institutions that are members of AASCU.”
Co-sponsoring Mukomel’s appearance are two student organizations, GLOBAL (Get Lost Outside Boundaries and Limitations) and AID (Americans for an Informed Democracy).
Americans for Informed Democracy is “a non-partisan organization that brings the world home to the next generation of leaders through educational seminars, leadership summits, town hall meetings, opinion pieces, and global videoconferences,” states its Web site.
GLOBAL is “an international organization. We try to bring students together to raise awareness about global issues and general knowledge of different countries and cultures,” Candi Nunley, GLOBAL president, says.
For more information, contact Korobkov at 615-898-2945 or korobkov@mtsu.edu; Nunley at global@mtsu.edu; or AID President Angie Feeney at amf3g@mtsu.edu.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg photo of Vladimir Mukomel, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.