GVSU alumnus nominated for ambassador to Russia

Thu, May 15, 2008    to del.icio.us

ALLENDALE — John Beyrle, a 1975 graduate of Grand Valley State University, was nominated this week by President George W. Bush to become the next U.S. ambassador to Russia.

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Should the U.S. Senate confirm the appointment, Beyrle will fill the vacancy left after former Ambassador William Burns was appointed U.S. undersecretary for political affairs.

Beyrle was born in Muskegon. His father, Joe Beyrle, is the only American soldier known to fight for both the U.S. and Soviet armies in World War II.

John Beyrle, 54, is a career member of the senior Foreign Service, which he joined in 1983. He currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria, a post he has held since 2005. Before that, Beyrle was deputy chief of mission in Moscow. He also served as counselor for political and economic affairs at the U.S. embassy in Prague. He speaks Bulgarian, Russian, French, German and Czech.

In a 2005 interview, Beyrle credited his time at GVSU with inspiring him to travel the world.

"Grand Valley opened up a whole world for me," Beyrle said. "When I came to Grand Valley, I met a whole range of professors — these were people who had traveled a lot and encouraged me to get out and use the languages I was learning there — not just in an academic sense, to become a teacher or a linguist, but to actually travel in the countries. They probably inspired me to take up a diplomatic career, which is sort of the ultimate practical way that you can use the languages that you're learning."

One of Beyrle's professors at GVSU was Christine Rydel, who is currently the coordinator of the Russian Studies program. She remembers Beyrle as a talented student.

"His extraordinary talents and ability to master many languages and sound like a native speaker made him stand out even in his first days at Grand Valley," Rydel said.

Beyrle graduated with honors from GVSU with a French major and German minor. He was the school's winter commencement speaker in 1997, and he recently met with GVSU students visiting Moscow on a trip with Rydel.

"When John found out that we were bringing 23 students to Russia for a study tour and that we would be in Moscow, he arranged to meet us not at the Embassy — where such meetings usually take place — but at Spasso House, the residence of the ambassador," Rydel said. "Such a meeting rarely occurs and it was a great privilege. John had to get special permission from the ambassador."

Tribune Writer Mark Brooky contributed to this report.