A Russian historian and political scientist will lecture on her countrys Middle East policies at 1:30 p.m. today, Jan. 15, in the West Virginia University Mountainlairs Shenandoah Room.

Ludmilla Selezmena will speak on”Russian Foreign Policy and the Middle East.”The lecture, hosted by the WVU Department of Political Science, is free and open to the public

Selezmena is a recognized authority on 20th century Russian history, the history of Russian movements and parties, and modern Russian political history. She earned a doctorate in history from RostovStateUniversity in 1982 and a doctorate in politics from the RussianStateUniversity for Humanities in 1996.

The author of more than 40 articles and 10 books, she has lectured widely in the United States, Canada and Europe. She is the author of Western Democracy in the Eyes of Russian Liberals and Orbits of Civic Society .

In 1981 she joined the faculty of RostovStateUniversity as a lecturer. In September 1997, she joined the faculty at the RussianStateUniversity for the Humanities in the Department of History, Political Science and Law.

Her current research focus is the political biography of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the history of perestroika.