Milada Vachudova (FFP ’05, ’15) Named IAH Faculty Director for Strategic Initiatives
July 25, 2024 | Kristen Chavez
Milada Vachudova has been named the inaugural Faculty Director for Strategic Initiatives at the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.
Vachudova, a professor in the department of political science, is a two-time IAH Faculty Fellow, receiving fellowships in 2005 and 2015. In 2023, she served on the IAH’s advisory board’s ad hoc strategic priorities committee. As Faculty Director for Strategic Initiatives, Vachudova will support the development, evaluation, and advancement of existing programmatic initiatives and several new strategic initiatives.
The Institute’s strategic plan, “Going Deeper to Broaden Our Impact,” enhances and expands the Institute’s long-standing model of supporting arts and humanities research and leadership. In consultation with the IAH Director and with IAH staff support, the Faculty Director for Strategic Initiatives will coordinate all aspects of the IAH strategic priorities implementation plan.
New initiatives include:
- Developing faculty programs to support international research collaborations
- Supporting community engagement and partnerships locally, nationally, and globally to advance public-facing arts and humanities programs
- Providing leadership development support for newly appointed chairs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences
A longtime friend and Fellow of the Institute, Vachudova was a Fletcher/Whitton/Pealer Fellow in 2005. In 2015, she returned as a Borden Fellow, where she focused on “Democratization in the Western Balkans: Political Contestation and the Leverage of the European Union.”
“Milada is a vital addition to the Institute. She will certainly enhance the work of implementing our strategic priorities,” said IAH Director Patricia Parker. “In particular, the expertise and experience that Milada brings will be especially invaluable to developing our internationalization and engaged partnership initiatives.”
“At the heart of our campus, the IAH brings together faculty, supports their research, and inspires them to take on exciting new ventures,” said Vachudova. “I am delighted to join the IAH team in deepening and broadening our initiatives in the service of our faculty and our broader community.”
Vachudova served as chair of the curriculum in global studies from 2014 to 2019. She draws connections across time and continents to deepen student understanding of domestic and world politics. In 2023, Vachudova received a Chapman Family Teaching Award for excellence in teaching undergraduate students.
Vachudova specializes in political change in Europe, and the impact of international actors on domestic politics. Her current projects include protest in defense of liberal democracy across Europe, the revival of EU enlargement, and Ukraine’s path to EU membership amidst the transformation of European politics and institutions owing to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Her recent articles explore the trajectories of European states due to strengthening ethnopopulism and democratic backsliding – and how these changes are impacting party systems and civic participation.
In November 2023, Vachudova attended a salon in New York City hosted by lifetime board member Caroline Williamson where she discussed “Russia’s War Against Ukraine and Ukraine’s Challenge to the US and Europe: How are war and recovery transforming the West?”
Her public service includes work for US government agencies and civil society groups in North Carolina. She has held fellowships from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, the European University Institute, Harvard University’s Center for European Studies, the National Science Foundation, Princeton University’s Center of International Studies, and many others.
Categories: Featured News Content, News