[1] He is noted for his work in promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the USA and the USSR/Russia,[2][3][4] and for attracting large numbers of students to his courses.

[1][8] Initially majoring in economics at the University of Chicago, he was drawn to Slavic studies after discovering Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in a required literature course and being (in his words) "knocked for a loop".

He reports that he ran to a bookstore, picked up a copy of Crime and Punishment, read it in two days, and resolved to learn the language of such a great body of literature.

[6] [10] His most popular course, Introduction to the Soviet Union and Successor States Archived 2010-06-05 at the Wayback Machine, draws as many as 800 students each Spring Quarter.

[2] He is a founder of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) [3] and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nevsky Institute of Language and Culture.