Photo: U.S. Department of State / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
McFaul interests me because he closed the gap most academics never touch. From tiny Glasgow, Montana, to a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, to serving as US ambassador to Russia, he carried his scholarship on democratization straight into live diplomacy. Theory and high-stakes statecraft rarely translate cleanly, yet he spent a career moving between the seminar room and the negotiating table. That willingness to test his ideas against reality, then return to Stanford to teach and keep speaking out, is the part I find genuinely American and genuinely rare. He uses intellect as a working tool, not an ornament.
Overview
Michael Anthony McFaul (born October 1, 1963) is an American academic and diplomat who served as the United States ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. McFaul became the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor in International Studies in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University in 1995, where he is the Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael McFaul
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・マクフォール
- Reading
- まいける・まくふぉーる
- Born
- October 1, 1963 (age 62)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Rabbit
- Origin
- Glasgow, Montana, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- diplomat / university teacher / writer / academic / political scientist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Bozeman High School
- University
- St John's College
Awards & achievements
- 1986 Rhodes Scholarship
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Diplomat — see all → · University teacher — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.