Willard Sunderland

Willard Sunderland is a professor of history specializing in Russian and Soviet history, with primary focus on the Russian Empire. Teaching since 1996, he covers Russia/USSR, modern Europe, and world history through courses like \"The History of Russia: From Perun to Putin\" and \"Anna Karenina's Russia\".

He earned a BA in Russian Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and MA/PhD in history from Indiana University, Bloomington. His research centers on modern Russian imperial history, informed by extensive travel throughout the former Soviet Union.

Current projects include a travelogue/history of John Quincy Adams' 1809 diplomatic voyage to Russia (retraced via sailboat \"Clio\" in 2023), a Peter the Great era book, and research on Russian maritime history, the Far East, Northern Pacific, and Sino-Russian relations. His award-winning \"The Baron's Cloak\" (2014) examines imperial frontiers through war and revolution.

Recent publications analyze 19th-century revolutions, regional identities, and borderland dynamics, reflecting consistent engagement with imperial administration, cross-cultural encounters, and comparative frontier studies across Eurasia.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Publication Award from Association for the Study of the Nationalities (ASN)
• Publication Award from Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
• Publication Award from Ohio Academy of History

Research funding is secured from:

• National Endowment for the Humanities
• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Fulbright Scholar Program
• International Research and Exchanges Board
• Social Sciences Research Council
• National Council for Eurasian and East European Research

He co-edited \"Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History\" (2015-2022) and supervised the \"Russia's Regions in Historical Perspective\" lab at Moscow's Higher School of Economics (2018-2021), directing international collaborative research on imperial regionalism.