Son Of Former Soviet Leader To Address Penn State Forum
November 2, 2000
University Park, Pa. — Sergei Khrushchev, senior research fellow at the Center for Foreign Policy Development of the Thomas J. Watson Institute and son of the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, will give a talk on "The Russian Road to Capitalism" at the Penn State Forum at noon on Thursday, Nov. 30, in the Ballroom at the Nittany Lion Inn.

Khrushchev was born in 1935 when his father was Moscow party chief, and spent his formative years accompanying him on major foreign trips–including Great Britain in 1956, East Germany in 1958, the United States in 1959, and Egypt in 1964. Khrushchev - an expert in computer science, missile design, and space research - was active in the Soviet missile and space program. He worked on such projects as cruise missiles for submarines, military and research spacecraft, moon vehicles, and the "Proton," the world's largest space booster.

In 1991, Khrushchev received an appointment to the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, and in 1999, he and his wife, Valentina Nikolayevna, became U.S. citizens. He writes extensively about the history of the Cold War and the turning points in relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Khrushchev, Eisenhower, and Kennedy periods. In addition, his research focuses on the former Soviet Union's transition from a centralized to a decentralized society, as well as its transformation from a central to a market economy and its international security during this transition. His book "Nikita Khrushchev: The Creation of a Superpower," was published by Penn State Press last spring.

The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore and is open to the public. Tickets are $11 for non-members and $9 for members, and include lunch. Reservations can be made by mail or by stopping by the Faculty Staff Club office at 103 HUB-Robeson Center. Tickets will be on sale at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the speech and a question-and-answer session at noon. For more information call (814) 865-7590.

?The next Penn State Forum speaker is Frank Rhodes, president emeritus of Cornell University, who will speak on "The Research-Intensive University: Prospects for a New Era" on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the Penn Stater.

Contact: Amy Neil, Department of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or .