TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Paul Bushkovitch, one of the leading scholars of Russia in the United States, will give a public talk at the second annual Friends of History Lecture Thursday, March 22, at 4 p.m. in 205 Gorgas Library.

Bushkovitch is a history professor at Yale University and specializes in the history of Russia before the 18th century. He is the author of “The Merchants of Moscow 1580-1650,” “Religion and Society in Russia, the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries” and “Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671-1725.”

The lecture is sponsored by UA, its history department and the Friends of History Association.

The event is free and open to the public.

The UA history department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the college have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Team.

The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is in the midst of a planned, steady enrollment growth with a goal of reaching 28,000 students by 2010. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state's economy, is in keeping with UA's vision to be the university of choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state's flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.