Stephen Gross, Director. Professor Gross is jointly based at the Department of History and the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at NYU. After working for several years as an economist at the Bureau of Economic Analysis in Washington DC, he completed his PhD at UC Berkeley where he subsequently lectured with the International and Area Studies Program. In his research and teaching Dr. Gross is interested in 20th century Germany, European unification, European and international political economy, energy policy, and international relations. His first book, Export Empire, was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2015. He has also published on a variety of economic themes in German and European history in Central European History, Contemporary European History, German Politics and Society, and Eastern European Politics and Society, as well as in various book chapters. Professor Gross' full bio.
Mikhala Stein, Assistant Director. Prior to NYU, Mikhala served as deputy director of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Kokkalis Program on Southeast and East-Central Europe, where she also designed and instructed an executive training program module on negotiation and conflict management. She also worked as a senior director in a global corporate philanthropy consulting firm, and held project manager and evaluation positions with foundations and nonprofits in Russia, Latvia and the UK. Stein received a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where her policy project Exploring Alternative Futures: Scenario Planning as a Tool for Third Parties in Conflict Management was published. She earned a B.A. in International Relations from Wellesley College.
Anastasia Skoybedo, Administrative Aide. Anastasia was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia and moved to the U.S. when she was 15. She graduated from Boston University with degrees in International Relations and Philosophy. Her specialization is in Eastern European and Strategic Studies (and German Idealism), and her senior thesis was on the conflicts in the North Caucasus. Upon graduating she worked at Ugly Duckling Presse, an independent publishing house, and for My Perestroika, a documentary on the lives of the last generation of Soviet children after perestroika. Most recently, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Georgia where she taught English to middle and high school students.