School of Public Policy, University of Calgary was designed as an interdisciplinary institution that would draw on expertise from academics across various departments and faculties at the university, including the Department of Economics, Department of Political Science, the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. Among the university’s faculty contributing to early work by The School of Public Policy were Dr. Ron Kneebone, Dr. Herb Emery, Dr. David Bercuson and Dr. Robert Mansell. The school was formally launched on May 13, 2009, at an opening dinner during which former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a keynote speech. The
Stanford US–Russia Forum and Moscow State University who wanted to maintain dialogue on U.S.-Russia cooperation despite the deterioration in relations caused by the Russo-Georgian war. SURF’s first public event was a one-day conference in November 2008 at Moscow State University focused on the most pressing problems in US-Russian relations. The conference attracted widespread student interest and was attended by delegates from MSU, MGIMO, the Higher School of Economics, the Academy of National Economy, as well as students from Stanford University, Yale University and University of Pennsylvania. In the fall of 2009, the organization launched the SURF Exchange Program, a six-month program for twenty