Lee Feinstein ’81

BA, MA, JD; Bloomington, Indiana

Lee Feinstein is an American policy scholar and former diplomat who has worked at think tanks, in government, and in academia. His government positions include member and principal deputy director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff and U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2009–2012). President Obama appointed him to the Executive Council of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he served from 2016–2021. 

My six-word story:

“Finding connection,
Over there;
Here, too.”

Prior to entering government, Lee was deputy director of studies and senior fellow for foreign policy and international law at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was Founding Dean of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University from 2014–2022, and is faculty director of the school’s Washington, DC program. In addition to his service on the Vassar Board, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown.