Nadia Kizenko

Nadieszda Kizenko teaches Russian and East European History at the State University of New York at Albany.  She received her degrees at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the Harriman Institute. Prof. Kizenko explores the intersection of nations and empires, of history and culture, and the extent to which religion has been a constituent element of national and imperial identity.  She has long been fascinated by how the Baltic nations succeeded in keeping their distinctive identities even when ruled by Germans, Poles, Swedes, and Russians—and how the Swedes and Poles have reinvented themselves as power shifted and as the Russian empire extended its reach.

         Prof. Kizenko’s research, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, has allowed her to publish widely on questions of religion and empire.  Her most recent books are Good for the Souls: A History of Confession in the Russian Empire (Oxford, 2021) and Orthodoxy in Two Manifestations? The Conflict in Ukraine as Expression of a Fault Line in World Orthodoxy (Peter Lang, 2022).

Hugh Neighbour

Hugh Neighbour brings many years of experience as a diplomat for the U.S. and an officer in the U.S. Navy, mostly working overseas.  Specialized in political and economic affairs, he was posted in Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.  Hugh was awarded the Secretary of State’s Career Achievement Award as well as a number of Department of State awards for distinguished service. 

Since retiring from the U.S. State Department in 2010, Hugh has worked as a consultant in both Washington and overseas, served as an official observer for several elections overseas, and lectured aboard high-end cruise ships. Several times a year, Hugh directs a course in advanced foreign area studies to select groups in the Washington region.  Hugh will offer a fresh, up-to-date perspective on the history, culture, and current affairs of the fascinating peoples and places you will visit.

Laurie Koloski

Laurie Koloski traveled to Poland for the first time in 1981, knowing little about the country and maybe a dozen words of the language. It didn’t take long to realize what a special place it was, and she lived there for four years before returning to the US to complete her undergraduate studies. She has been traveling to and studying central and eastern Europe ever since.

Recently retired from William & Mary’s Department of History, Laurie received degrees from the University of Michigan, Yale University, and Stanford University, as well as certificates from the Center for Polish Language and Culture in the World at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. While her training and research focused on social and cultural history in communist-era Poland, her teaching interests have encompassed modern European and global history, communism and socialism, historical interpretation, and material culture. Her favorite course at W&M was “Stuff: Objects and Their (Hi)Stories,” in which she worked with first-year students to read material objects and critically evaluate the past and present-day stories of their favorite (and sometimes least favorite) things.

Laurie uses case studies to highlight key historical themes and lessons, often by focusing on the ways that things such as monuments, maps, food, buildings, and even mustaches can help us understand broad developments such as identity, imperial power, and ideology. She has enjoyed traveling with Smithsonian Journeys tours since 2016 and is always eager to meander back streets with her fellow travelers, looking for that little café, shop, or street sign that has a larger story to tell.

Glenn Kranking

Glenn Kranking is Associate Professor of History and Scandinavian Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College. He received his Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University, and has lived and researched in Sweden, Estonia, Finland, and Russia. His area of research includes Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries, nationalism, and minorities. One of his more recent courses looks at Nordic Explorers, from the Vikings to the Polar explorers.