Bridget Brink ’91 talks with Professor of Political Science and International Studies Joseph L. Klesner during Kenyon’s Bicentennial Reunion Weekend in 2024.
Bridget Brink ’91, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine for nearly three years during its ongoing war with Russia, will return to Kenyon this month as the College’s inaugural expert-in-residence.
In town for nearly two weeks from Oct. 18-29, Brink will visit classes, lecture on a wide range of topics, meet with students one-on-one, offer career advice, and fully incorporate herself into campus life.
“There are just so many things that she, as a true liberal arts-educated Kenyon alum, can do,” said Annie Gordon, director of alumni engagement. “She crosses multiple disciplines, and that’s why she was the perfect person to kick off this Expert-in-Residence Program.”
The program was created to bring distinguished alumni and parents to campus to spend extended time with students, formally and informally. It involves classroom teaching, public panels, small-group conversations and more.
The effort is funded in part from a $25 million gift from Matthew Voorhees ’95, chair of Kenyon’s board of trustees, and several other donors to the Third Century Founders initiative to connect interdisciplinary learning with hands-on experiences to equip students to tackle the challenges of today. Funding also comes from the College’s operating budget. Voorhees’ gift also will be used to renovate Ralston House as a place for future experts-in-residence to live, meet and teach.
Brink graduated from Kenyon in 1991 with a degree in political science, and went on to receive master’s degrees in international relations and political theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Her career in the Senior Foreign Service included posts in Serbia, Uzbekistan and Georgia as well as time as U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic. She was nominated to be ambassador to Ukraine by President Joe Biden in April 2022 — just two months after Russia invaded the country — and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. She resigned three years later, citing disagreements with the administration, and ran for a congressional seat in her home state of Michigan.
Brink previously visited campus during Bicentennial Reunion Weekend in 2024, when she delivered a keynote address highlighting the value of a liberal arts education and received the Humanitarian Service Award from Alumni Council. Now, she said she’s very excited to be back in a role that will contribute broadly to campus life.
“I’m deeply honored to kick-off Kenyon’s Expert-in-Residence Program as a wonderful opportunity to engage with students on the biggest challenges we face at home and abroad and how a liberal arts education is uniquely placed to offer the critical thinking, problem solving and ethical judgment we need to solve them,” she said.
Faculty have reacted to the program warmly, inviting Brink to visit classrooms in the Departments of Political Science, International Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures and elsewhere. And she’s found willing partners in the Center for the Study of American Democracy, the Center for Global Engagement and the Career Development Office, where she will review student resumes and give a career talk.
Associate Professor of Political Science Jacqueline McAllister will be taking part in a kickoff conversation with Brink on Oct. 19. She’s also invited the former diplomat to her “Rules for the World” seminar for a discussion about the nuclear non-proliferation regime and to her “International Relations” class to talk about the current state of order in world politics and what to expect in the future.
“We are incredibly honored and excited to have one of the highest-ranking former diplomats in the U.S. government share her remarkable experience with us,” McAllister said.
Brink will be spotlighted in the upcoming Women’s Conference, too, during an alumnae panel on Oct. 23 in a special version of Professor of Political Science Pamela Camerra-Rowe’s “Democracy in Crisis” seminar. There, Brink will appear in conversation with Jenny Mallamo ’08, senior director for communications and public affairs at The Brookings Institution; and Rebecca Shoot ’06, co-convener of the Washington Working Group for the International Criminal Court and the ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions.
Lee Schott, dean for career development, said the Expert-in-Residence Program is a natural extension of the College’s desire to connect as many students as possible with accomplished alumni and parents.
“We know we have really smart, successful alumni that want to help our students. We know we want our students to be connected to those alumni. And so the idea is to bring alumni to campus and do it for a long period of time — so they’re in the dining hall, they’re going to events, they’re going to classes, and the chances of them interacting with a lot of students is going to be very high.”
Brink’s time as an expert-in-residence is part of the Kenyon Keys program, contributing to its themes of Democracy & Publics as well as Global & Local.
