Former U.S. Ambassador to Discuss Russia-Ukraine War at ASU

SAN ANGELO, TX - Angelo State University will present former U.S. Ambassador William B. Taylor as the featured speaker for the 2025 E. James Holland-Roy A. Harrell Jr. Foreign Affairs Speakers Program on Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive.

Taylor's presentation, titled "Update on Russia's Invasion of Ukraine," will begin at 6 p.m. in the University Center's C.J. Davidson Conference Center and is free and open to the public.

A native of New Mexico, Taylor served as the sixth U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006-09 and later as U.S. charge d'affaires to Ukraine in 2019-20. During the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests in the Middle East beginning in 2010, he oversaw U.S. assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria. From 1992-2002, he served as a U.S. diplomat in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Quartet on the Middle East.

Taylor also previously spent five years in Brussels, Belgium, as the special deputy defense advisor to the U.S. ambassador to NATO, directed a U.S. Department of Defense think tank, and directed the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Emergency Preparedness. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he served as an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Germany.

Taylor currently serves as vice president, Russia and Europe, at the U.S. Institute of Peace. While on the ASU campus Feb. 11-12, he will also speak to several classes and meet with various student and faculty groups.

The E. James Holland-Roy A. Harrell Jr. Foreign Affairs Speakers Program is dedicated to providing ASU students and the community with a broader world view and exposing students to potential career opportunities in the Foreign Service. The program is sponsored by the ASU College of Arts and Humanities.