Ambassador, IU alumnus to be IUB commencement speaker

By DeAnna Hines

Collins
Collins
A native of Aurora, Ill., Collins earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University.
Before joining the U.S. State Department, he worked as an assistant professor at the U.S. Naval Academy.
"He was a very hard worker, very bright and very determined," Alexander Rabinowitch, professor of history at IUB, once commented. Rabinowitch was a friend and IU classmate of Collins and attended his swearing-in as ambassador. "I think those qualities have served him well. I've been with him one or two times at the Moscow embassy. He worked like a bear then, and he works like a bear now."
At IU in the 1960s, Collins studied with some of the leading specialists in Russian affairs, including the late Robert F. Byrnes, IU Distinguished Professor of history and founding director of the Russian and East European Institute (REEI), and the late IU political scientist Darrell Hammer, a well-known scholar of Soviet and Russian politics.
Collins' most recent visit to campus was in May 1996 after he delivered the keynote address at an REEI-sponsored forum in Indianapolis, "Russian Presidential Elections 1996: International Business and Policy Implications."

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James F. Collins, U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, will be the speaker at Indiana University Bloomington's commencement on May 8.

Collins, who received a master of arts degree in history from IU in 1964 and was affiliated with the IU Russian and East European Institute, took the oath of office as ambassador on Sept. 2, 1997, following his nomination by President Bill Clinton and confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

A career diplomat with extensive experience in Russian affairs, Collins returned to Moscow following an assignment in Washington as senior coordinator and then ambassador-at-large and special adviser to the U.S. State Department's secretary of state for the new independent states.

Collins had twice before served at the American embassy in Moscow: from 1990 to 1993 as deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires, and from 1973 to 1975 as second secretary. Academic study and research brought Collins to Moscow for the first time from 1965 to 1966 as an exchange fellow at the History Faculty of Moscow University.

In addition to his diplomatic postings in Moscow, he has held several management positions in the State Department and has served on the staff of the National Security Council.

Collins received the Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service in January 1993, the Department of State's Distinguished Honor Award in October 1993, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in December 1995. He is also the recipient of several meritorious and superior honor awards from the State Department.

Jerry Tardy, executive director of the IU Alumni Association and chair of the university commencement committee, said this year's graduation ceremony will be in Memorial Stadium and will begin at 10 a.m.