Brian LaPierre

Dr. Brian LaPierre is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi specializing in modern Russian and Soviet history. His research focuses on crime, social control, and legal systems in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago (2006) alongside MA (1998) and BA (1996) degrees from the same institution and Millersville University respectively.

• Education: PhD - University of Chicago (2006)
• MA - University of Chicago (1998)
• BA - Millersville University (1996)

His primary research interests include the social construction of deviance in Khrushchev's Russia, the policing of hooliganism, and the intersection of law with everyday life under socialism. Current projects explore Bulgarian guestworker experiences in the USSR and post-Stalinist capital punishment practices. He has received major grants from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and IREX.

Teaching specialties include Muscovite/Imperial Russia (HIS 452), Soviet Union studies (HIS 458), 20th-century European history (HIS 334), and International Studies seminars (IS 491). Proficient in Russian, Bulgarian, and French, he contributes to the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES).