Bridget Brink ’91 spent 10 days on campus as the College’s first expert-in-residence.
Kenyon has a long history of hosting distinguished guests — from famous authors to powerful politicians to Nobel Prize winners. But none of their visits were quite like that of former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink ’91, who recently completed a 10-day tenure as the College’s first expert-in-residence.
Rather than dropping in for a single speech or class, Brink spent more than a week embedded in campus life, visiting a multitude of classes, participating in panel discussions, offering career advice, reviewing resumes, and meeting one-on-one with students from Oct. 19-28.
“I got to see her a lot, which was really amazing,” said Charlie Flamm ’27, a double major in political science and Russian who met with Brink as part of classes in both disciplines and also discussed possible career paths with her during office hours.
“She had the most meaningful insights that you can’t get from a textbook,” he continued. “It’s a lot different for a professor to talk about theories, whereas she had tangible experience that she could give us all.”
Brink — who shared stories about her own time at Kenyon as well as what it was like to live under fire during wartime in Ukraine — visited Gambier as part of the College’s new Expert-in-Residence Program, created to bring distinguished alumni and parents to campus to spend extended time with students, formally and informally.
It was an unprecedented chance for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of international affairs, public service or their own career options, according to Professor of Political Science Pamela Camerra-Rowe, who helped moderate a “Democracy in Crisis” panel featuring Brink and other alumnae on Oct. 23 during the recent Women’s Conference.
“Bridget was the perfect person for this,” she said. “She was so interested in meeting the students and talking with them. She was willing to fill every hour of her day … and she was very willing to talk openly and honestly about the experiences that she had. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to come.”
Brink’s unique background allowed her to contribute across disciplines, going far beyond political science and international studies. She also visited every Russian class, encouraging students to continue studying languages through her example and experiences, said Associate Professor of Russian James McGavran ’02, who helped moderate a kickoff event featuring Brink on Oct. 19.
“What she did during those visits really was inspiring,” he said.
Noel Tumbasz ’27 enjoyed hearing Brink talk at that Oct. 19 event as well as in his “Rules for the World” seminar with Associate Professor of Political Science Jacqueline McAllister, where she discussed nuclear non-proliferation. But his favorite moments came in the time he spent just walking across campus with her, talking about politics in his native Hungary and elsewhere.
“I had a lot of great conversations with her,” said Tumbasz, a student associate with the Center for the Study of American Democracy and a double major in political science and Chinese. “We talked about the U.S.’s global role in this constantly changing international order, and we talked a little about her Kenyon experience and her career path from Kenyon to the U.S. Department of State.”
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.
For Brink, the return to her alma mater — where her path to becoming a U.S. ambassador began — was a thrill and an honor.
“To address the complex challenges we face at home and abroad, we need the critical thinking, problem solving and ethical judgment skills a liberal arts education offers now more than ever,” she said. “My experience in the classrooms, on Middle Path, and in Peirce Hall affirmed to me both the quality of a Kenyon education, thanks to an amazing faculty and staff, and the capability of our incredible students to shape the future as the leaders of tomorrow.”
Alicia Bernal ’30 met with Brink during office hours and found the career diplomat incredibly helpful as she seeks to plot her own career path in international relations.
“She guided me in the courses she took while at Kenyon and the courses she wished she had taken,” Bernal said. “I took down many notes as she described internships and career paths that aligned with the interests I told her about. Overall, towards the end of the meeting, I had a much clearer idea of how, when and with whose help I could start my journey as a freshman at Kenyon.”
Hannah Schwemm ’27, a double major in international studies and history, met with Brink in a variety of settings in and out of the classroom. She was part of a student lunch with Brink, signed up for office hours, and heard about her time in Ukraine as part of an international studies senior seminar. The experiences were both stimulating and encouraging.
“As a student, any opportunity to see where Kenyon graduates are now inspires and proves how beneficial a liberal arts degree is,” she said. “Seeing a woman who was once in my shoes having achieved a successful, robust career in international diplomacy shows what is possible and proves that our aspirations can, and should, be set high.”
It was particularly helpful to students like Flamm to hear from Brink that there is no one path to a career in public service and that a Kenyon liberal arts education will help navigate all the twists and turns encountered along the way.
“She reminded all of us that when she was here, she had no idea what she could achieve or where she would go,” he said.
The Expert-in-Resident Program is part of the Kenyon Keys initiative, with Brink’s tenure contributing to its themes of Democracy & Publics as well as Global & Local. 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.
