SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

American University · Washington, D.C.

FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES -- Julie Mertus

Julie Mertus
Clark Hall 203
[On sabbatical, Fall 2006 - Spring 2007]
JD Yale Law School
BS Cornell University
co-director: Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs Program
Office: (202) 885-2215
E-mail: mertus@american.edu
Web site

Biography

Professor Mertus is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA program in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at American University. During academic year 2006-2007, she is a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Denmark where she is working with the Danish Institute of Human Rights. A graduate of Yale Law School, her work focuses on human rights, U.S. foreign policy, refugee and humanitarian law and policy, gender and conflict and post-war transitions. Her geographic expertise is in Central and Eastern Europe, with a specialty on the former Yugoslavia, but she has also participated in human rights projects in such diverse places as Vietnam, Brazil, China, Jordan and South Africa. Her prior appointments include: Senior Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace; Human Rights Fellow, Harvard Law School; Writing Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Fulbright Fellow (Romania), and Counsel, Human Rights Watch.

As a scholar, Professor Mertus has published widely. Her book Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2004) was named "human rights book of the year" by the American Political Science Association Human Rights Section. Her other books include: Human Rights and Conflict (United States Institute of Peace, 2006)(editor, with Jeffrey Helsing);The United Nations and Human Rights (Routledge, 2005); Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War (U. Cal. Press 1999), War's Offensive Against Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan (Kumarian, 2000); The Suitcase: Refugees' Voices from Bosnia and Croatia (U. Cal. Press, 1999); and Local Action/Global Change (UNIFEM 1999)(with Mallika Dutt and Nancy Flowers). Her work has also appeared in leading multi disciplinary journals such as: Ethics and International Affairs, Global Governance, International Studies Perspectives, International Feminist Journal of Politics and The Harvard International Review.

As a practitioner, Professor Mertus has nearly twenty years experience in the human rights field, as a field researcher, lawyer, advocate, political analyst and trainer. At the international level, she has conducted human rights trainings with NGOs, political leaders, school teachers and student activists in over a dozen countries. She has also served as a consultant on human rights and humanitarian issues to UNHCR, the Humanitarianism and War Project, the Watson Institute for International Affairs, Women Waging Peace, OXFAM, the Soros Foundation, and many other nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations. She has also appeared as an expert witness in asylum proceedings and has offered expert commentary on CNN, NPR, and Voice of America, and in such newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and The International Herald Tribune.

As a teacher, Professor Mertus has been recognized for her innovative course designs and interactive teaching. Among several colleagues, she has been a pioneer in distance learning teaching, offering at least one distance learning course each spring for the past three years. She has written curriculum for several human rights courses and her own book on teaching women's human rights has been translated and used in Albanian, Arabic, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Thai and Ukrainian. In 2003, she received the School of International Service, American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Curriculum Development, and in 2002 and 2006, the School of International Service, American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Professional Service. In 2005, Professor Mertus won the School of International Service award for Scholar/Teacher of the Year.

Research Interest

• Human Rights & US Foreign Policy
• Gender and Conflict
• Refugees and Humanitarian Action
• Central and Eastern Europe/The Balkans
• Human Rights and Democratization
• Ethics and Modern Global Problems
• International Organizations & Peace
• Human Rights & the Media

Recent Courses Taught

• Human Rights
• Gender and Conflict
• Ethics and International Affairs
• Human Rights and Conflict
• Human Rights and the Media
• Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Human Rights and Culture
• Peace Paradigms

Publications (Selected)

BOOKS

• “Human Rights and Conflict” (United States Institute of Peace, 2006) (editor, with Jeffrey Helsing)
• “The United Nations and Human Rights” (Routledge, 2005)
• “Bait and Switch: Human Rights and American Foreign Policy" (Routledge, 2004)
• “Human Rights and American Foreign Policy” (Routledge, 2004)
• “Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War” (U. Cal. Press 1999)
• “War's Offensive Against Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan” (Kumarian, 2000)
• “The Suitcase: Refugees' Voices from Bosnia and Croatia” (U. Cal. Press, 1999)
• “Local Action/Global Change” (UNIFEM 1999)(with Mallika Dutt and Nancy Flowers).

Professional Practice (Selected)

• Chemonics International 2004-present, Human rights education consultant; Conducted workshops and trainings and authored educational materials.
• U.S. State Department/ Drexel University 8/03-6/04, Consultant, Conducted audit of political science project in Albania.
• OXFAM USA 6/00-8/00, Kosovo Specialist; reviewed and assessed potential and ongoing OXFAM operations in Kosovo.
• Human Rights Institute, UN World Conference on Women, Beijing, China 8/95, Leader in ten day international workshop and training on women’s human rights law.
• Newport Institute and Harvard Center for Policy Negotiation, Cambridge, MA 8/94, Conducted field research in Hungary and authored study on Roma youth (with Scott Long).
• Human Rights Watch, Helsinki Watch, New York, NY 6/93 - 7/94, Counsel Documented and analyzed war crimes and other human rights abuses in the former Yugoslavia; drafted evidentiary and procedural rules for proposed international war crimes tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia; authored reports on human rights abuses in ex-Yugoslavia; acted as Counsel for Human Rights Watch amicus brief for Karadzic case; extensive public speaking.
• The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, New York, NY 9/92 - 5/93, Conducted fact-finding mission to Croatia to review adoption, abortion and citizenship laws; co-authored Meeting the Health Care Needs of Women Survivors of the Balkan Conflict; amicus brief before Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court.

Awards Outside of American University (Selected)

• Fulbright (Denmark, 2006; Romania, 1995)
• American Political Science Association, 2005 Human Rights Book of the Year - Bait and Switch
• U.S. Institute of Peace, 2000-2001 Senior Fellow, Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace.
• The Council on Foreign Relations, 1998 - present Team Member
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 1994, Research and Writing Grant.
• Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, 1996, Human Rights Fellow
• Emory University, 1997, Law and Religion Fellow
• The Ford Foundation, 1996 - 1997 Grant support for human rights education projects.
• The Soros Foundation,1994 – 1995 Grant for study of ethno-national conflict and human rights law in Serbia.

Awards by American University (selected)

• 2006 - School of International Service, American University Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Professional Service
• 2005 - School of International Service American University Award Scholar/Teacher of the Year.
• 2004- School of International Service, American University Award for Outstanding Curriculum Development,
• 2002 - School of International Service, American University Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Professional Service School of International Service

Back to: Faculty Directory | Faculty Directory -- By Department | SIS Home