International Development Program | SIS
Faculty
American University has one of the largest concentrations of faculty, referred to as Scholar-Practitioners, focused on international development. The development faculty is distinguished by its scholarly reputation, its diversity, its combination of theory and field experience, its commitment to teaching, and its maintenance of a strong collegial relationship with the students in the program.
Program Director
-
Louis Goodman, Professor and Dean Emeritus, SIS
SIS-School of Intl Service
Louis Goodman carries out research on social change and politics in Latin America and in Asia. His current research focuses on public goods, regional alliances and development. He has published widely on civil-military relations in Latin America, on … More
IDP Faculty
-
Adam Auerbach, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Auerbach’s research and teaching interests include the political economy of development, local governance and representation, and comparative political institutions, with a regional focus on South Asia and India in particular. His first book project … More
-
Robin Broad, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Robin Broad, Professor of International Development, established and heads SIS’s International Development Program’s unique curricular offerings on economic globalization and development and on environment and development with a focus on social, … More
-
Susanna Campbell, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Prof. Campbell’s research and teaching address war-to-peace transitions, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, international development and humanitarian aid, global governance, IO and INGO behavior, and the micro-dynamics of civil war and peace. She uses mix… More
-
Lauren Carruth, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Professor Lauren Carruth is a medical anthropologist specializing in humanitarian assistance, global health, food security, refugees, and the Horn of Africa. Most of her continuing ethnographic work focuses on the lasting social and health system eff… More
-
Maria Clark, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
Maria Donoso Clark has worked in international development for over 30 years and in more than 25 countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Clark spent 25 years with the World Bank in several senior-level position… More
-
Cindy Collins, Adjunct Instructor
SIS-School of Intl Service
-
Erin Collins, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Professor Collins is a human geographer. Her work focusses on the political economy and cultural politics of transformation in Southeast Asian cities. Her current research looks at how people claim and defend space in Cambodia's capital city of Phnom… More
-
Marion Dixon, Professorial Lecturer
SIS - School of International Service
Marion Dixon is a member of the International Development Program at American University's School of International Service. A broadly-trained sociologist, Dr. Dixon researches agriculture and food system change, with a focus on North Africa. She is c… More
-
Daniel Esser, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Esser's current research investigates the social foundations of political legitimacy in non-democratic settings. This new line of inquiry builds on his widely cited work on urban governance, development effectiveness amid armed conflict, an… More
-
Jonathan Fox, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Jonathan Fox focuses on the relationship between citizen participation. transparency and accountability, from both scholarly and practitioner perspectives. He has carried out extensive research in rural Mexico, and with Latino immigrant organization… More
-
Scott Freeman, Professorial Lecturer
SIS - School of International Service
Dr. Scott Freeman is an environmental anthropologist who works extensively in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is currently concerned with the bureaucracies of international aid projects, and how bureaucratic and financial procedures in inte… More
-
John Heath, Sr Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
-
David Hirschmann, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Hirschmann has written approximately 55 publications, with topics including Reengineering and Performance Measurement in USAID; Development Management/ Bureaucracy/ Administration, and Planning; Women and Development; Women and Political Particip… More
-
Jordanna Matlon, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Dr. Matlon is an urban sociologist interested in questions of race and belonging in Africa and the African diaspora, and the ways “blackness” as a signifier – and in its intersection with gender, class, and national identity – illuminates our underst… More
-
Johanna Mendelson-Forman, Adjunct Professor
SIS - School of Intl Service
Johanna Mendelson Forman is a Scholar in Residence at American University’s School of International Service where she teaches Conflict Cuisine: An Introduction to War and Peace around the Dinner Table. Connecting war and food is something that came f… More
-
Rachel Robinson, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Robinson is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on the global health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, including family planning, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality education. Her book, Intimate Interventions: Preventing Pregnancy and Pr… More
-
Vidyamali Samarasinghe, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Vidyamali Samarasinghe is a Professor in the International Development Program of the School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C. Currently she is the Director of the International Development Program. Vidyamali Samarasing… More
-
Thespina Yamanis, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Thespina (Nina) Yamanis’ professional interests are in identifying the mechanisms that link social and structural conditions to global health disparities and in designing community-based interventions to improve health among vulnerable groups. Sh… More
IDP Affiliate Faculty
-
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program, serves as Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute. He has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in confl… More
-
Amitav Acharya, Distinguished Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
AMITAV ACHARYA is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C., and the Chair of its ASEAN Studies Ini… More
-
Akbar Ahmed, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C and the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the U.K. and Ireland. Named “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” by the BBC, A… More
-
Jeffrey Bachman, Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Jeff Bachman is a Professorial Lecturer in Human Rights and Co-Director of the Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs MA Program. His teaching and research interests focus primarily on U.S. foreign policy and human rights. He is also interested in the rol… More
-
Derrick L. Cogburn, Associate Professor
-
Maria De Jesus, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Maria De Jesus brings to AU a wealth of research and teaching experiences in the area of health disparities, a critical area of focus in interstate and transnational relations. Her research examines the role of cross-cultural health communication… More
-
Michelle Egan, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Michelle Egan teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including: The European Union, Relations of West European Nations, International Relations of Europe, Comparative European Politics, Economics, and Society, Transatlantic… More
-
Stephanie Fischer, Executive-In-Residence
SIS-School of Intl Service
Stephanie Fischer is the Director of Experiential Learning and an Executive in Residence at American University in the School for International Service. Stephanie teaches courses in social enterprise, nonprofit management and professional competencie… More
-
Carolyn Gallaher, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
I do research in two distinct areas—organized violence by non-state actors and urban politics In the first area, on which I have spent more time, I examine the politics, internal dynamics, and patterns of violence of militias, paramilitaries, privat… More
-
Agustina Giraudy, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Giraudy's book, Democrats and Autocrats (Oxford University Press, 2015), explores the multiple pathways towards subnational undemocratic regime continuity within democratized countries. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal… More
-
T. Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Garrett Graddy-Lovelace researches global environmental and agricultural policy and politics. A critical geographer, she draws upon political ecology and postcolonial studies in current research on agricultural biodiversity conservation, ag… More
-
Gerbrand Groen, Senior Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Groen teaches Cross-cultural communication as well as Intercultural Competence at American University since 2006, prior to which he served as a management consultant in global business management, human resource management and cross-cultura… More
-
Austin Hart, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Austin Hart is Assistant Professor of Quantitative Methods and Coordinator of the Graduate Methods Program. He specializes in the study of political behavior as well as statistical and experimental research methods. His substantive work focuses on ci… More
-
Mohamed Alaa Abdel-Moneim, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Mohamed Alaa Abdel-Moneim, PhD, obtained a BSc in Political Science from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS), Cairo University – Egypt. He was appointed as a Teaching Assistant in the FEPS Department of Public Administration in 2001… More
-
Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Pek Koon Heng teaches courses on International Relations and International Political Economy in Southeast and East Asia. She also directs SIS’s summer graduate program on “Globalization and Regionalism in East Asia” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In … More
-
Carl LeVan, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
LeVan focuses on comparative political institutions, democratization, and African security. His book,"Dictators and Democracy in African Development: The Political Economy of Good Governance in Nigeria" (Cambridge University Press, 2015) explains tw… More
-
Nanette Levinson, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
SIS-School of Intl Service
Nanette S. Levinson is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Academic Director of the SIS/Sciences-Po Exchange. Currently Co-Director of the Internet Governance Lab, she also serves as Editor of the International Communication Section, The Internati… More
-
Jennifer Poole, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Professor Poole’s research and teaching interests fall at the intersection of international trade, labor economics, and development economics. With an emphasis on Brazil, her broad research agenda considers the effects of global integration on local … More
-
Malini Ranganathan, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr Ranganathan is a critical geographer and political ecologist with an interest in urban environmental justice in both the South and North. Her research focuses on water and land in the city of Bangalore/Bengaluru in India. Specifically, she uses et… More
-
Assistant Dean for MA Programs, Senior Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Michael Schroeder is Senior Professorial Lecturer and Assistant Dean for Masters Education at the School of International Service. Dr. Schroeder's teaching and research is focused on the United Nations system, political leadership and global govern… More
-
Susan Shepler, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Shepler's research interests include youth and conflict, reintegration of former child soldiers, post-conflict reconstruction, refugees, education and economic development, NGOs and globalization, transitional justice, and Ebola. In addition to h… More
-
Matthew M. Taylor, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Taylor's research and teaching interests include state capacity, corruption, and Latin American political economy. He has lived and worked extensively in Brazil, most recently as a member of the faculty at the University of São Paulo, from … More
-
Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Jessica Trisko Darden is an Assistant Professor at American University's School of International Service and Associate Director of Bridging the Gap. For 2017-2019, she is an inaugural Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He… More
-
Anthony Wanis-St. John, Associate Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Anthony Wanis-St. John researches international negotiation and mediation: military negotiations, ceasefires, humanitarian negotiations and peace processes in particular. He has created several advanced courses on negotiation for SIS, ranging fro… More
Adjunct Faculty
Thierry Van Bastelaer: Vice-President and Senior Fellow, International Health Division, Abt Associates
Jose Garzon: Senior Advisor at U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance
Komal Bazaz Smith: Innovation Learning Specialist, Center for Development Innovation (DAI), U.S. Global Development Lab USAID
Courtney Roberts: Principal and Owner, Moonshot Global Consulting, LLC
Skills Institute Instructors
Jacqueline Bass - Director Livelihoods and Food Security, FHI 360
Alberto Begue - Independent Senior Education Consultant
Nicholas Brown - Project Manager, DAI
Jacob Gray - Deputy Director, Local Capacity Development, ACDI/VOCA
John Heath - Senior Evaluation Officer, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank
Stephen Ladek - Principal, International Solutions Group
Jacobo Menajovsky - Data Scientist Consultant
Patricia Morris - President, Women Thrive Worldwide
Kristi Ragan - Chief of Party, Center for Development Innovation, US Global Development Lab, DAI
Mark Robilliard - Co-founder, Color Accounting International
Scholars-in-Residence
Coralie Bryant
Miguel Carter
Julie Feinsilver
Jacob Meerman
Johanna Mendelson-Forman
Joan Nelson
Teijia Reyes
Quick Links
Skills Institutes
Intensive three-day courses, training students in state-of-the-art international development techniques
Tinker-Walker Fellowships
Through the Irene Tinker-Millidge Walker Fellowship, students can receive financial support to offset the costs of including overseas field experience in their research, internship, or practicum.