Mississippi State University is having Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, Aug. 31.  He will be the speaker for the MSU International Institute’s 2016-17 MSU Global Engagement Lecture Serious.
    Chaly was born on July 1, 1970 in Vinnytsia. He graduated from Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University in 1992. Since 1995, he has worked as a senior consultant, helper and reviewer to the president of Ukraine. Since May of 2010, he has served as the deputy director general. He became the ambassador of Ukraine in 2014. 
  “I’m really excited for the event, and I’m really looking forward to it,” Evan Lund said, a freshman at MSU. “It’s a huge opportunity to see and hear about things going on in Ukraine and other countries that you don’t normally see.”
  Rick Nader, the associate vice president for international programs, said Chaly will speak to the students about recent events happening in Ukraine, such as Ukraine being the heart of Russia and how the country has been doing on its own since breaking away from the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
“Valeriy will speak about a lot of things, most importantly about the challenges of a new democracy,” Nader said. “Students are interested in world affairs, really excited, and they will learn a lot about Ukraine. Chaly will talk about the new democracy after their revolution; his role is to promote Ukranian and United States relations.” 
  Nader also said the ambassador will talk about corruption and how old Soviet ways are still clinging to the country.
      “It’s still a new democracy, struggling to find its way,” he said. “Russia is still breathing down its back.” 
     He encourages students to study far and wide because employers want students that study abroad.
Olga Ivanova, the counselor of the embassy of Ukraine in the U.S., works with the ambassador. She is looking forward to the ambassador’s visit to Mississippi. 
 “We are very excited about the forthcoming visit to Mississippi and the ambassador’s speech at MSU,” Ivanova said. “It will be the first such contact between Ukraine and Mississippi, and we feel that there are so many opportunities for development of good cooperation. We highly appreciate the support and help of MSU in organizing this visit.”
  “I’ve been working with the ambassador since July 2015, when he was appointed by the president of Ukraine,” Ivanova said. “Before that, Mr. Chaly was the president’s top counselor on foreign policy and deputy chief of staff at president’s administration.”
  Ivanova also discussed what the ambassador will be speaking to the students about and what they will learn from the experience. 
“The ambassador will speak about the developments in and around Ukraine, explain how we and our international partners meet these challenges, what was achieved so far and what has to be done further,” Ivanova said. 
Lastly, Ivanova talked about what the ambassador expects from the students, and what he hopes they will consider from his words in the future.
   “He expects the students will learn from his speech about why Ukraine, which is quite far geographically, is so important for the U.S., and why challenges that Ukraine is facing can’t be ignored by the rest of the world,” Ivanova said. “It will be a chance to get first-hand information on the topic that appeared at the spotlight of the U.S. politics and media during the presidential race, quite unexpectedly for most of people.”
The event will be held in in Bost Extension Center’s North Auditorium at 2 p.m. Faculty, students and staff are all invited to attend this event.