Alex Stubb ’93, H’17 president of Finland, speaks to the Politics of the European Union class via Zoom on Monday, March 24. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
The President of Finland, Alexander Stubb ’93 H’17, spent nearly an hour on Monday in talking with Furman University students via a Zoom call with the Politics and the European Union class.
Alex Stubb ’93 H’17, president of Finland, speaks to the Politics of the European Union class via Zoom on Monday, March 24. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
It was a full-circle moment for Stubb, who was in the very first class called Politics of the European Union in the early 1990s. The class helped launch his political career, said Brent Nelsen, the Jane Fishburne Hipp Professor of Politics and International Affairs, who teaches the class. Nelsen and Stubb have been friends since Stubb was a student. The two wrote a book, “European Union: Readings on the Theory and Practice of European Integration,” now in its fourth edition.
The class of 20 students were eager to ask questions of their fellow Paladin. Because of a change in schedule, Stubb was able to spend the entire 55 minutes with them.
“I was proud of my students,” Nelsen said. “They asked important questions, they didn’t focus on trivia, and they were clear in their questions. They demonstrated that they knew a lot about the EU. And they were not at all shy. It got him to talking about the condition of the world at the moment.”
The students wanted to know what a typical day was like for the president, who he met with, who around him inspired him. They asked about Finland-United States relations,
Students in the Politics of the European Union class ask questions of Alex Stubb ’93 H’17, president of Finland, who spoke to the class via Zoom on Monday, March 24. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
When asked how he went from Furman to the presidency of Finland, Stubb talked about “the interplay of hard work, preparation and luck,” Nelsen said, and taking advantage of opportunities.
For example, Stubb became a noted expert on the European Union. When Finland joined the organization and the government needed an expert, Stubb was selected, said Nelsen, who also is the director of Furman’s Tocqueville Center. Stubb went on to be elected to the European Parliament in 2004. He was appointed Finland’s foreign minister in 2008 and a member of the Finnish parliament in 2011.
Nelsen has at least one other heavy hitter lined up to talk with his class. Anu Bradford, a friend of Stubb’s, Henry L. Moses Professor of International Law and Organizations at Columbia Law School and director of their European Legal Studies Center. Nelsen’s class is reading her latest book, “Digital Empires,” now.
He also hopes to connect with Furman alumna Elise Peeler, a parliamentary assistant to the European Parliament president and a 2021 Furman graduate.