Dr. Sharyl Cross is Director of Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward’s University (Austin) and Global Policy Scholar at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington DC).  Dr. Cross was Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany from 2005-2013 where she was Director of Academics for both the Program in Advanced Security Studies and Senior Executive Seminar, and served in key leadership capacities for the Marshall Center’s outreach engagement initiatives in Russia, Eurasia and South East Europe.  Prior to the Marshall Center, Dr. Cross had been appointed Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.   She earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a resident fellowship scholar and consultant at the RAND Corporation.  Dr. Cross has published widely on US/NATO-Russia security issues, Russian foreign policy, Sino-Russian relations, and security and defense sector reform in South East Europe.  Her most recent book (co-authored with Paul J. Bolt) China, Russia, and Twenty First Century Global Geopolitics with Oxford University Press is scheduled for release in January 2018. Dr. Cross currently co-directs a project on religion and international security in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy involving collaboration with experts in Eurasia and South East Europe.  Her maternal great grandparents (Balic and Mitrovic families) originated from coastal Sveti Stefan Montenegro with the family relocating to the United States (Arizona) in 1905.