The Lithuanian ambassador to the United States will be at MSU-Detroit College of Law today to talk to students throughout the day.

Vygaudas Usackas will conduct a European Union class tonight and meet with members from MSU International Studies and Programs and James Madison College.

Like the students he will be talking with, Usackas pursued a law degree as a college student.

He studied law at Vilnius University in Lietuva, earning his degree in May 1990. This is the ambassador’s first visit to MSU.

In November 1991, his focus went from education to government when he became the second secretary of the Western European Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

He also has served as NATO liaison and was chief negotiator for Lithuania’s entry into the European Union.

Usackas, who speaks English, Russian and French, was ambassador for Special Missions at the Ministerial Advisory Group before becoming ambassador to the United States.

Considered an expert in foreign relations, he has published articles in Lithuanian and foreign press about Lithuanian-Russian relations and Kaliningrad issues.

“We have a very strong international law concentration at the college including courses in law of the European Union and business law,” said MSU-DCL Dean Terence Blackburn.

“Those students and the students in the international law society and the Journal of International Law have a very strong interest in a talk of this sort.”

Christine Hammond, MSU-DCL’s executive director for planning, said the general public will have a chance to participate in question-and-answer sessions with the ambassador.

“I think there will be a good response from our law students,” she said.

“They will be interested in understanding how two governments, two systems work and how change happens in a government.”