Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili will give lectures as a senior statesman at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Boston's Tufts University starting from January for the spring 2014 academic term.

He will conduct “major addresses and lectures on European governance and other contemporary international and regional issues,” The Fletcher School said in an announcement on December 20.

Admiral James Stavridis, dean of The Fletcher School, said that Saakashvili “is an accomplished leader and statesman, renowned for changing the course of his country’s history and moving it strongly into the trans-Atlantic community, as well as for his impact on the region and indeed the world.”

Saakashvili, who has not been in Georgia since early November, said in a post on his Facebook page: “I am really thrilled to start working with the prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy as a senior statesman position. I am particularly happy to work with the admiral James Stavridis, a real American hero and leader, a man with whom I already have established a long and fruitful relationship in our respective previous positions.”

“As you know, I have decided to focus for the moment on academic work in order to reflect, discuss and debate what has been achieved and what remains to be done in our region. I cannot think about any better start than the opportunity offered by such a leading American school,” he said.

In his farewell presidential address to the nation in late October, Saakashvili said: “I do not need a rest, but time has come when you have to rest from me.”