Dr. Stojan Kuzev from Macedonia has been named as the featured Graduate of the Month for April 2009.
Dr. Kuzev is chief of department of strategic research at the General Mihailo Apostolski Military Academy, Macedonian Ministry of Defense. Dr. Kuzev first attended the Marshall Center in 1998 when he participated in SES 1998-4 as assistant to the minister of defense. Prior to this he had already worked 25 years in the MOD. After returning from the Marshall Center, he moved to the academy in 1998. He became an assistant professor in 2004 and at the beginning of 2009 a full professor. Recently he returned to the Marshall Center for SES 2009-1.
"The Marshall Center always deals with current problem in [the] security sector," Dr. Kuzev said, "Its programs are always focused on global security changes and challenges. The feelings of equality and opportunities to exchange [your] own opinions about security problems with participants from the whole world, makes the Center a true democratic place. Simply to say, you go home richer with knowledge and expertise."
Dr. Kuzev cited the Knowledge Portal with its databases as particularly important to his past and current duties, stating
"The theoretical framework offered by the library, and the Knowledge Portal that I have had an opportunity to use, gave me deeper knowledge and they are an inexhaustible source," he said.
Dr. Kuzev also took part in the alumni community of interest conference on border security in 2008, as a participant and as a panel member, reporting on border guard training requirements.
For the past four years, Dr. Kuzev has served as the president of the Macedonian Alumni Association, having successfully held two security roundtables a year as well as participating in other regional associations' events.
