Astrid S. Tuminez was born in a farming village in the Philippines and grew up in the slums of Iloilo City. She was educated by Catholic nuns and teachers as a child and later received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brigham Young University, a master’s degree in Soviet studies from Harvard, and a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of Russian Nationalism Since 1856: Ideology and the Making of Foreign Policy and Rising to the Top? A Report on Women’s Leadership in Asia, as well as many other publications. She loves to travel, read, dance, run, and spend time with her family and students at Utah Valley University, where she serves as president.