Center for Global Affairs
FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
ALON BEN-MEIR, M. PHIL., PH.D.
Senior Fellow in Global Affairs
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is professor of international relations and Middle East studies and a noted journalist and author with over 20 years of direct involvement in foreign affairs. In addition to his essays on global conflict-oriented issues, Dr. Ben-Meir writes a weekly article about current international policies and events. Ben-Meir is the author of numerous books, including: The Middle East: Imperative and Choices; Israel: The Challenge of the Fourth Decade; In Defiance of Time; Framework for Arab-Israeli Peace; and The Last Option and a War We Must Win. He expects to publish Lost Perspectives and Iraq Divided in the winter of 2008. These latest books tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and address the debacle of the Iraq war and its consequences, respectively. Ben-Meir is fluent in Arabic and Hebrew and holds an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University.
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AMBASSADOR RICHARD BUTLER AC, M.Ec.
Global Diplomat in Residence, Clinical Professor
Ambassador Butler joined the graduate program in 2008 as NYU's first Global Diplomat in Residence. He has held numerous international posts for both the government of Australia and for the United Nations, including the Executive Chairmanship of the United Nations Special Commission to Disarm Iraq (UNSCOM), as appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from 1997-1999. As Executive Chairman, Ambassador Butler was responsible for the direct negotiations with the Iraqi government to "destroy, remove or render harmless" Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. He worked in conjunction with heads of government, defense ministers, and intelligence chiefs, advised the UN Security Council regarding policy matters, and directed all UNSCOM operations.
Ambassador Butler also has held the following posts: Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Chairman of the establishment for UNAIDS (a global program on HIV/AIDS), Australian Ambassador to Thailand, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations (an elected position by the UN General Assembly), Australian Ambassador for Disarmament (Geneva), Diplomat in Residence for the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Governor of Tasmania, among many other positions.
Ambassador Butler is a well-published author of policy statements, papers, and books. His books include: The Greatest Threat: Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the Crisis of Global Security; Saddam Defiant: The Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Crisis of Global Security; and Fatal Choice: Nuclear Weapons, Survival or Sentence. He holds a B.Ec. in Economics from the University of Sydney, an M.Ec. in International Relations from the Australian National University, and has been awarded multiple honorary doctorates. He is a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honor.
THOMAS FLORES, PH.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Thomas Flores' research interests lie primarily in comparative and international political economy, with an emphasis on the politics of economic development. In particular, his research focuses on the political foundations of economic growth and inequality, security challenges in developing countries, the politics of international aid and international financial institutions, statistical methods, and the politics of Latin America. In this vein, his research agenda consists of a project on the politics of protecting private property rights and a co-authored book on economic recovery from violent civil conflicts (with Professor Irfan Nooruddin of The Ohio State University). Thomas teaches courses on international political economy and the political economy of development.
Before joining the faculty of the Center for Global Affairs, Thomas worked as an analyst for First Manhattan Consulting Group. He has received a United States Department of State Fulbright Scholarship for study in Colombia, a Ford Foundation Diversity Dissertation Fellowship, and two teaching prizes from the University of Michigan. Thomas has co-authored (with Irfan Nooruddin) an article on World Bank lending to post-conflict countries in The Review of International Organizations (forthcoming). He holds a B.A. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.
CAROLYN KISSANE, M.A., PH.D.
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Dr. Carolyn Kissane has worked as a researcher and consultant in Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Argentina, Japan and Sweden for educational and nongovernmental organizations including World Teach, The Academy for Educational Development, Soros Foundation, United States Institute of Peace, U.S Department of Education and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). She also works with CIMERA, a NGO she helped set up in New York which works in the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. She has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of international affairs, nongovernmental organizations and international development, and education and international development at Teachers College Columbia University, CUNY Queens College, Colgate University and New York University. She holds a two year fellowship from the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs for her work on post-Soviet history education in Kazakhstan. In addition she received a Fulbright Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research Award, Teachers College Columbia University Dean’s Grant, IREX Caspian Sea Fellowship, IREX travel grant and a National Security Graduate Enhancement Fellowship.
Dr. Kissane’s publications include an article on history education in Comparative Education, Freedom House Countries at the Crossroads report on Kazakhstan, Evaluating Human Rights Education and a forthcoming chapter on History Education for Reconciliation and Understanding and new research on the impact of oil revenues on educational policy and financing in resource rich countries. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Education and Policy Studies from Columbia University.
LOUIS KLAREVAS, M.A., Ph.D.
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Dr. Louis Klarevas is a clinical assistant professor at the Center for Global Affairs. Prior to moving to New York, he was the Defense Analysis Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. He has also held teaching positions at George Washington University, American University, and the City University of New York. Before joining the ranks of academia, he served as a research associate at the United States Institute of Peace – a U.S. government think tank devoted to resolving international conflicts and global security problems. Dr. Klarevas's areas of expertise are international security, transnational terrorism, American foreign policy, national security law, democratization, and the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus). His publications and commentaries have appeared in some of the top policy and academic journals (e.g., International Security, Harvard International Review, Diplomatic History, Fletcher Forum, and Public Opinion Quarterly) and some of the most prominent periodicals and newspapers (e.g., New Republic, International Herald Tribune, New York Newsday, Washington Post, and Washington Times) in the field. He is currently writing a book tentatively entitled The Democracy Delusion: Why Democratization Is Not a Panacea. Dr. Klarevas holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the School of International Service at American University.
MICHAEL F. OPPENHEIMER, M.A.
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Michael F. Oppenheimer is a professor of international relations and political economy in the Global Affairs masters degree program at New York University. He also does extensive consulting, specializing in futures oriented policy analysis for the US foreign policy and intelligence communities, think tanks and NGOs. He is an expert on the global economy, U.S foreign policy and national security strategy. He has published on a wide range of topics, including Europe’s future, international trade distortions, and U.S. trade policy. For the past decade, Mr. Oppenheimer has worked for Washington foreign policy makers and intelligence officials on a range of strategic projects. He is credited with expanding the use of scenarios and alternative analyses for the US intelligence community. He worked directly for the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council in establishing the method and process, and in creating the scenarios for Mapping the Global Future. He has conducted workshops for The Brookings Institution on legitimacy and the potential use of force against Iran, and for the Council on Foreign Relations on early warning and conflict prevention. He was a US delegate for a track two dialogue with Iranian experts, sponsored by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Most recently (April 2007), he conducted a scenario workshop at NYU on the future of Iraq, published by the Center for Global Affairs as Iraq 2010. He is a fellow at the Institute for Homeland Security, and consults to the Department of Homeland Security on future threats.
Mr. Oppenheimer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Foreign Policy Roundtable at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, and the American Council on Germany. He is a frequent speaker on the origins and leading indicators of conflict, domestic sources of foreign policy, and new approaches to thinking about the global system. Before he joined the NYU faculty, he was President of Global Scenarios, a New York based consulting company, and previously was Executive Vice President at The Futures Group, a Connecticut based international research and consulting company with government and corporate clients.
HOWARD S. SCHIFFMAN, J.D., LL.M., PH.D.
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Dr. Howard S. Schiffman is Clinical Associate Professor for the Center for Global Affairs, teaching in both the Masters and continuing education programs. Dr. Schiffman regularly teaches courses in international law, international dispute settlement and international environmental law. He has also taught courses in international law and American constitutional law at Yeshiva University Stern College for Women.
Dr. Schiffman is admitted to practice law in New York State and Massachusetts (retired status in Massachusetts) as well as the Eastern and Southern District Courts of New York and the United States Supreme Court. He is co-creator of www.InternationalLawHelp.com , a comprehensive and easy-to-use educational website dedicated to the field of international law. He has previously worked for several years as a staff attorney with the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society of New York. He holds a B.A. (Cum Laude with Distinction) from Boston University, a J.D. from the Suffolk University Law School in Boston and an LL.M. (Master of Laws) in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University Law School. Dr. Schiffman earned his Ph.D. at the Cardiff University Law School (Wales, UK). His doctoral dissertation entitled, The Role of Reservations and Vetoes in Marine Conservation Agreements, examined a critical aspect of international environmental law and is pending publication as a book with Martinus Nijhoff-Brill publishers of the Netherlands.
Dr. Schiffman is an advisor for the Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations where he supervises student interns on a variety of cutting-edge marine environmental conservation projects. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he currently serves on the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy (a Taylor & Francis publication), is a member of the International Environmental Law committee of the American Society of International Law, and since 1997 has been an active participant in the International Wildlife Law Conference. Dr. Schiffman is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) International Law and Practice Section where he serves on the Law of the Sea committee. He is also a member of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA) where he serves on the Law of the Sea committee and Teaching International Law committee. Dr. Schiffman’s professional biography appears in Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who in America.
ADJUNCT FACULTY:
GIUSEPPE AMMENDOLA, M.A., DOTT., PH.D.
For over twenty years, Dr. Giuseppe Ammendola has taught courses in international trade and investment, international political economy, international relations, and American foreign policy, among others. In addition to teaching in the international affairs certificate program at NYU, he has also taught at the City University of New York and lectures in international business and international marketing at various Italian graduate business schools and postdoctoral institutions. When he is not teaching, Dr. Ammendola consults for mid- and small-sized companies on strategic management, marketing, and business plan evaluation and writing. His writings include the book From Creditor to Debtor: The U.S. Pursuit of Foreign Capital—The Case of the Repeal of the Withholding Tax, published in the "Foreign Economic Policy of the United States—Outstanding Studies" Series as well as the internationally recognized country study "The Government of Italy" in Michael Curtis, ed., Western European Government and Politics. Dr. Ammendola is a frequent guest on Bloomberg TV where he analyzes the US economy and capital markets in several languages for viewers worldwide. He has given over 200 presentations (including many in Spanish, French, and Portuguese) to corporate and nonprofit international managers as well as general audiences on many aspects of the global economy. Professor Ammendola has a Doctorate in Economics and Business from the University of Naples and a Ph.D. in Political Science with a specialization in International Political Economy from the Graduate School of the City University of New York, where he also worked at several research institutes. He came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar in 1981, and he is the recipient of the New York University SCPS Excellence in Teaching Award.
MICHELLE BILLIG, M.A.
Michelle Billig directs PIRA Energy Group's Global Political Risk Service. She has over a decade of experience analyzing international energy issues. Prior to joining PIRA in 2004, Ms. Billig was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and conducted energy research at Deutsche Bank. She spent five years as an international policy advisor at the U.S. DOE under the Clinton and Bush administrations. During that time, she advised the U.S. Energy Secretary and other senior U.S. officials on relations with major energy-producing and -consuming countries, including Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, China, Nigeria and the EU. In 2001, Ms. Billig served as Energy Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Prior to the DOE, she worked at the International Energy Agency, the White House, UNICEF and the Center for International Environmental Law.
Ms. Billig holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is a commentator to CNBC, BBC, NPR, the New York Times and the Economist and has written for Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times and The Los Angeles Times. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
ANDREA BONIME-BLANC, J.D., PH.D.
Dr. Andrea Bonime-Blanc joined Bertelsmann in early 2002, as the company’s first Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, where she oversees global business ethics and compliance for Bertelsmann and works closely with all the divisions on the creation and implementation of business conduct programs. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ethics Officer Association in March 2004 and is a member of the Conference Board’s Global Council on Business Conduct. Professor Bonime-Blanc has written and edited several professional books and currently writes a monthly business ethics column for Bertelsmann’s global intranet while also writing a book on global corporate citizenship. Professor Bonim-Blanc holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Director and Corporate Secretary of the American Association for the International Commission of Jurists. She was raised in Germany and Spain, is bilingual in Spanish and English and has traveled extensively in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
BARBARA BORST, M.A.
Professor Barbara Borst is a New York-based journalist specializing in international affairs. She recently completed a special project for The Associated Press planning, writing and editing coverage of the U.S. elections for subscribers worldwide. Previously she worked full-time on The AP international desk as an editor and reporter. She also has been a free-lance UN correspondent for The Boston Globe and a Paris correspondent for Inter Press Service news agency. Professor Borst was based abroad for a dozen years, in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Paris and Toronto, where she reported frequently for Newsday, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, The Times (London), The Associated Press and others. Professor Borst holds a BA in English Literature from Yale University and an MA in International Relations from Boston University’s Overseas Graduate Program in Paris. She has taught courses on humanitarian aid, non-governmental organizations and democratic transitions in the credit and the noncredit programs at NYU for the past several years.
JARRET BRACHMAN, M.A., PH.D.
Dr. Jarret Brachman is a specialist in al-Qa`ida strategy. He serves as the Director of Research in the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Dr. Brachman teaches the Advanced Terrorism Studies course to cadets at West Point. His research focuses on the topics of intelligence and counterterrorism, al-Qa`ida strategy and terrorist use of new media technologies.
Dr. Brachman has testified before Congress on the threat posed by al-Qa`ida and routinely advises government agencies on local, state and federal levels on counterterrorism policy. He is the co-author of "Stealing Al-Qa`ida's Playbook" and served as project coordinator for West Point's "Militant Ideology Atas." He is regularly cited on terrorism related issues in international media and recently appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN and CNN International. Before coming to West Point, Dr. Brachman served as a Fellow in the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorist Center. He earned his bachelor's degree from Augustana College (SD) and his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Global Governance Studies from the University of Delaware's Department of Political Science and International Relations.
TAMAR HOSTOVSKY BRANDES, LL.B., LL.M.
Professor Tamar Brandes completed her LL.B, magna Cum Laude, at Tel-Aviv University School of Law and her LL.M at Columbia Law School, where she is currently a doctoral candidate. Her dissertation concerns the cultural rights of minority groups in multicultural societies. She is a freelance writer for an Israeli newspaper, and has taught courses in International Law and Political Science at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Professor Brandes is admitted to practice law in Israel and the State of New York. During the 1990s, she served as an education officer in the Israel Defense Forces and had the unique opportunity to develop and teach courses and workshops on various topics, including the peace process in the Middle East and the implementation of the Oslo Accords.
KENNETH CAIN, J.D.
Professor Kenneth Cain served with UN Peacekeeping Operations during conflicts in Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and Liberia. He was a Fulbright scholar of constitutional law in Colombo, Sri Lanka and a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. An award winning and international best selling author, Professor Cain has written widely on global affairs and its impact on domestic politics for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, the Human Rights Quarterly, and GQ. He is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School.
JAMES J. CARRAGHER, M.A.
Jim Carragher retired from the U.S. Department of State at the end of July 2007 after a nearly 32 year career as a Foreign Service Officer. In his final assignment with the Department he served for two years at City College of New York as one of the Department’s 16 Diplomats in Residence. While at CCNY he was an adjunct professor and taught “The Making of U.S. Foreign Policy” and “The 9/11 Commission”. Prior to arriving at CCNY, he was a Special Advisor to the State Department’s Director General and the Department’s Commissioning and Tenure Board (CTB), where he worked to increase the understanding of the Board’s role and tenuring procedures throughout the Foreign Service.
In earlier assignments with the Foreign Service, Professor Carragher was Director of the Office of Brazil and Southern Cone Affairs for two years and, in 2001-2002, served as coordinator for Cuban Affairs after a three year assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Santiago, Chile from 1998-2001.
Professor Carragher began his overseas experience in Chile as well, working as a Peace Corps volunteer in forestry from 1968-1970. He joined the Foreign Service in 1975, following two years as an English teacher in Paris. His first assignment was to the Dominican Republic as a Vice Consul from 1975-77. He then served as a Political Officer in Pretoria/Cape Town, South Africa from 1978-81. After a year as an International Affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Carragher worked for two years in Washington at the Department of State. He became Political-Military officer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1984 and served there until 1988. Returning to Washington, he worked in the Operations Center as a Senior Watch Officer for one year, before being named Deputy Director and then Director of the Operations Center. He next served as Deputy Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs. Following that two-year assignment, he became Political Counselor in San Salvador from 1993-95 and his first Deputy Chief of Mission assignment was in Harare, Zimbabwe, from August 1995 to July 1998.
Professor Carragher received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968 and a M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine in 1972.
JOSEPH COELHO, A.B.D., M.A.
Professor Joseph Coelho has taught at Northeastern University, Merrimack College, Wheelock College, Bentley College, and the University of Massachusetts. He has conducted extensive research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, looking at civil society development and the issue of school segregation in country. His dissertation examines the practice of external state-building and the role of international territorial administrations in post-conflict societies. He has taught a wide range of courses, including International Relations, International Political Economy, Comparative Politics, and International Conflict and Negotiation, and served as a Research Assistant at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Democracy. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire and his Master’s Degree in Political Science from Northeastern, where he was inducted into the Political Science National Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha, in 2003. Professor Coelho is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern University.
SEKOU-KOUREISSY CONDE, PH.D.
Sekou Koureissy Conde, President of the American Council on Africa (ACA), is Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). The American Council on Africa promotes the inclusion of traditional African methods and peaceful mechanisms of conflict resolution, post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction in the international peace and development agenda. Dr. Conde was the former Security Minister of the Republic of Guinea, when he was involved in several challenging peacemaking efforts and post-conflict negotiations within the States of Western Africa. He holds a PhD in both Political Sociology and Criminal Sociology. In 2005 Dr. Conde acted as Academic Director of the International Symposium for Conflict Mediation and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR) in Cape Town/South Africa. From 2002-2004 he was Visiting Scholar at New York University, at the African-American Institute and the Africana Studies Program. He also has served as Associate Researcher of International Penal Law at the renowned European Max-Planck-Institute for Penal Law in Freiburg/Germany.
BELINDA COOPER, J.D.
Professor Belinda Cooper is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York, where she co-founded the Program on Citizenship and Security. She has taught human rights, international law, transitional justice and gender and law at Humboldt University in Berlin, the New School, Seton Hall Law School and Ohio Northern University Law School. She has edited a volume on the interconnections between the Nuremberg tribunal and the current international criminal tribunals entitled “War Crimes: The Legacy of Nuremberg.” Cooper lived in Berlin, Germany from 1987-1994 and returned in 2002 as a fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. She has taken part in human rights fact-finding missions and has coauthored reports on domestic violence in Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Tanzania. She has written for a wide variety of publications in German and English, including The New York Times, Newsweek, World Policy Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. She is also a translator of German scholarly books and articles, including most recently a textbook on international criminal law, and has worked as a translator on the case of Turkish-German Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz. Professor Cooper graduated summa cum laude with her B.A. in History from Yale University and received her J.D. from Yale Law School.
JUERGEN DEDRING, A.M., PH.D.
Dr. Juergen Dedring completed his undergraduate degree in his native Germany. Both his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Government are from Harvard University. Dr. Dedring has been teaching noncredit courses in the Global Affairs program at SCPS since 1997. In addition to teaching for the Center for Global Affairs at NYU, he is also adjunct professor of political science at CUNY Graduate School. His past teaching experiences include Harvard, Dartmouth, and Long Island University. He lectures and has written dozens of articles on a wide range of global issues including UN peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, conflict prevention and resolution, and specific regional problems. Dr. Dedring has had a long career within the UN where he served as senior officer in the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, in the Office for Research and Collection of Information and in the Department of Political and Security Affairs. He was a member of special UN Missions including those on Zambia, Lesotho, Iraq, and Haiti.
JOHN FRANKENSTEIN, PH.D.
Dr. John Frankenstein is currently a Visiting Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Brooklyn College/CUNY. His work focuses on the intersection of Asian political, economic and security concerns. Professor Frankenstein's career has been thoroughly international: naval duty in Southeast Asia, posts in Asia and Europe as a US diplomat, and teaching positions at Thunderbird, the University of Hong Kong, the Copenhagen Business School's Asia Research Center, and Columbia University, plus extensive guest lecturing. Dr. Frankenstien has consulted on China and international strategies for firms and government agencies as varied as United Technologies, Disney, Avon, HSBC, the European Commission, UN organizations and the US State Department. He has over 70 publications in scholarly and professional journals. He received his B.A. from Stanford, and his Ph.D. from M.I.T.
CHRIS GADOMSKI, M.S., M.B.A.
Professor Chris Gadomski has taught International Marketing Management at the graduate level at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College/CUNY, and joined the Center for Global Affairs in Fall 2005. He founded Strategic Marketing Inc. in 1983 and since then has consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 and small companies. His SMI accounts have included IBM, Bell South, Merrill Lynch, Chloride, United Nations Development Program, Polish-American Enterprise Fund, Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund, U.S. Department of Energy, Solarex Corporation, United States Energy Association, Coastal Power, Elektrim, Radio Computing Services and World Generation Magazine. Prior to founding SMI, he worked as a Defense Industry analyst with DMS Inc., and served as a Surface Warfare Officer, Lieutenant Jg. US Navy. Professor Gadomski holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Baruch College, CUNY, an M.S. in Journalism from Polytechnic University, and a BA from Holy Cross College.
JOHN GREEN, M.I.A.
John Green is Director and Practice Head of Asia at Eurasia Group. His involvement in Asia encompasses a decade of academic and professional experiences. He holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University's School of International Affairs, where he studied international economics and East Asia, and a bachelor's degree in political science from Princeton University, specializing in Southeast Asia.
Professor Green participates in coverage of country developments in South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia, and leads the analysis of regional issues including security and economic developments, and US relations with the region. In addition to his research coverage, Professor Green played a key role in developing the Stability Index methodology, a cutting edge tool for global market risk analysis.
Professor Green's professional experience includes three and a half years in the United States Marine Corps, including service in East Asia and operations with foreign military forces. He worked for hedge funds in Hong Kong and New York, where he was involved in developing global investment strategies. Prior to joining Eurasia Group he worked as an equity derivatives analyst for a leading financial products firm in New York.
ROBERT LANE GREENE, M.PHIL.
Professor Robert Lane Greene writes daily political analysis for The Economist's Global Agenda on Economist.com. His writing covers American politics as well as international issues, including the United Nations and the European Union. He also has written a regular foreign-affairs column for the website of the New Republic magazine, and his work has appeared on the op-ed pages of the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. He is a consultant for Freedom House, an NGO monitoring political and civil rights around the world, and an adjunct lecturer in Global Affairs at New York University. He is also a frequent television and radio guest commentator. Professor Greene holds an M.Phil. in European Politics and Society from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He received his B.A. in International Relations and History at Tulane University, and in 1996 was a State Department intern at the US embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay.
SIGRID GRUENER, M.I.A.
Professor Sigrid Gruener is a professional trainer, researcher and adjunct professor at Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) where she directs the Conflict Assessment Program. Her primary areas of interest and expertise are in the field of community development and peacebuilding, civil society capacity building and conflict assessment; she has practical and training experience in this field working in Panama, Mexico, East Timor, Iraq and the US with members of community groups, NGOs, local government and international development organizations. She also teaches a graduate level seminar on conflict assessment at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Prior to joining CICR Professor Gruener worked in the corporate arena as an internal auditor and financial analyst for the William Wrigley Jr. Company in Chicago. Ms. Gruener holds a Master of International Affairs degree in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University's School of International and Political Affairs. She received her undergraduate degree in International Studies and Economics from American University in 1998.
MICHAELA HERTKORN, M.A., PH.D.
Dr. Michaela Hertkorn has taught courses on International Relations and the U.S. and Europe in the international affairs certificate program at NYU for the past four years. Dr. Hertkorn also teaches at the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University. Previously, she was a visiting scholar at NYU's Center for European Studies, where she conducted research on German-US relations. Her expertise is on transatlantic relations, European foreign and security policy, and conflict prevention. Dr. Hertkorn holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Heidelberg and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Free University in Berlin. She completed post-doctoral studies in transatlantic relations at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies of Johns Hopkins University.
THOMAS E. HILL, MA.
Professor Thomas E. Hill is a professional peacebuilding practitioner with six years experience focusing on Iraq as the locus of his activities. He has designed, developed, conducted and managed conflict resolution education interventions, including research initiatives, training workshops with community leaders in Iraq and consultations with political figures. He is dedicated to supporting the development and implementation of strategies to prevent violent conflicts, to exploring possibilities for transforming conflict into a constructive force and to reducing the human cost of war.
Professor Hill's research interests include: the role of universities and higher education systems as actors and sites for peacebuilding; the importance of community-centered approaches to civil society capacity building; the use of conflict analysis and assessment as tools for integrating development and peacebuilding, and; the relationship between peacebuilding and media. During 13 years as a professional journalist, he developed research, advocacy and communication skills applicable to work in international affairs. He is currently a Ph. D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania.
MARIA IVANOVA, M.A., M.SCI., PH.D.
Dr. Maria Ivanova is a political economist, specializing in international development, sustainability, and global governance. She holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Bonn, a Doctorate in Political Science from the Sofia University, and a postgraduate diploma in International Affairs from the Vienna Diplomatic Academy.
MICHAEL KALAVRITINOS, M.A.
Professor Michael Kalavritinos is a Relationship Manager in JPMorgan's Worldwide Securities Services Division focused on Latin American Central Banks including Brazil and the Andean region. He is also an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University's School of History, Political, and International Studies. He has extensive international banking experience having held senior positions at Deutsche Bank and UBS, including having worked in Brazil. Professor Kalavritinos also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Special Forces Reserves, with assignments in Southeast Asia and Central America.
SYLVIA MAIER, M.A., PH.D.
Professor Sylvia Maier is an Assistant Professor in the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at NYU. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty at NYU, Dr. Maier was an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where she taught courses on international law, gender in world politics, human rights, ethics in international affairs, and nationalism and ethnic conflict, and won numerous teaching awards. She also taught at Harvard and USC.
Professor Maier's main areas of research and teaching focus on Islam-state relations in Western Europe, international law and gender studies. She is particularly interested in the legal and political integration of Islam in France and Germany, the protection of cultural minority rights, the emergence of an Islamic feminism in Saudi Arabia, and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for women's empowerment in the Global South.
Professor Maier has lectured and published articles, book chapters, reviews and op-eds on Muslim minority rights in France and Germany, sex-trafficking, honor killings, women's rights in the Middle East, and the effective use of ICTs for women's empowerment in India.
FRANCESCO MANCINI, M.I.A.
Professor Francesco Mancini is currently Senior Program Officer at the International Peace Academy (IPA), New York. Prior to joining IPA, he was Program Associate for the Worldwide Security Initiative at EastWest Institute, New York. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Mancini served as a Senior Consultant at the Charles Riley International Consultants Group, Paris. He specialized in business strategy and management of change and worked in Paris, Milan, Rome, Brussels and Rabat.
He teaches a graduate seminar on conflict assessment at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and at New York University's Master of Science in Global Affairs. His recent publications include "The Company We Keep: Private Contractors in Jamaica," Civil Wars (forthcoming) and In Good Company? The Role of Business in Security Sector Reform (London and New York: Demos and International Peace Academy, 2005). He also contributed to Richard Samuels (ed.), Encyclopedia of United States National Security (London: SAGE Publications, 2006).
Professor Mancini obtained his B.S. in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, his hometown. He also holds a Master of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University where he concentrated on International Security Policy and Conflict Resolution. He was awarded the Program Assistantship in the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. He has also worked at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia, researching the peace negotiations in Cyprus.
COLETTE MAZZUCELLI, ED.M., M.A.L.D, PH.D.
Dr. Colette Mazzucelli enjoys teaching peacemaking and conflict resolution. Her passion for international affairs was nurtured as an undergraduate in history, philosophy and modern languages at The University of Scranton (BA, magna cum laude, 1983). Her graduate studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (MALD, 1987), the Center for European Studies, Harvard University, and the Department of Government, Georgetown University (PhD, 1996), also reflect her engagement in the global community. Dr. Mazzucelli's doctoral research, conducted as a Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) Paris, contributed to a volume analyzing French and German diplomacy during negotiations leading to the Treaty on European Union ("Maastricht").
EVERETT MYERS, A.B.D., MBA
Professor Everett Myers has spent the majority of his professional life as an international banker/investment banker. He worked for Chase for many years in their Corporate and Investment bank, also serving as Country Manager in Japan for PaineWebber, Inc. Professor Myers has been an active entrepreneur throughout his business career having been one of the founding partners for a boutique investment bank, developing and executing esoteric cross-boarder tax arbitrage financings, as well as managing a number of smaller business endeavors. He received his MBA from St. Johns University, and expects his doctorate in Business Education from NYU's Steinhardt School of Education.
KAREN NAIMER, LL.B., LL.M., M.A.
Professor Karen Naimer currently holds the position of Deputy Counsel for the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for Food Program. Prior to this, Prof. Naimer worked as law clerk for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2004, where she clerked for President Theodor Meron and had the opportunity to draft appeals judgments, contempt opinions and interlocutory decisions concerning cases from the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. From 2000-2003, Naimer worked as an attorney for the private law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City where she worked extensively with non-profit organizations developing affordable housing and urban mixed-use development; co-authored amicus brief with the American Civil Liberties Union concerning housing discrimination, and represented 9/11 victims and their families through the New York City Bar Association Programs. She earned her B.A. from McGill University, her LL.B and M.A. from the University of Toronto, and her LL.M. from New York University. Professor Naimer is a member of the Board of Editors for the Journal of International Criminal Justice and a member of the American Society of International Law, and the International Law Association.
JEAN-MARC OPPENHEIM, M.A., M.PHIL., PH.D.
Dr. Oppenheim has been teaching in the Global Affairs Program since 2000. He has taught at Columbia; CUNY; Fordham; the University of Southern Mississippi; and the University of Alexandria, Egypt. Besides teaching, he lectures widely to the public and private sectors including the Department of the Army; the New York City Board of Education; Pratt & Whitney; General Electric, etc., on such topics as U.S. policy in the Arab world; Islam and politics; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is a member of the Board of Visitors, University for Foreign Military Cultural Studies-Training and Doctrine Command, U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; the Board of Directors of the Givat Aviva Educational Foundation, Israel, an NGO promoting bridges between Israelis and Palestinians; Columbia's University Seminar on the Middle East; and the Israel Policy Forum. He served as curriculum advisor to the Department of Government, Jackson State University, in Mississippi, on the foreign policy training of civil servants from newly-independent states in central Asia and sub-Sahara Africa. Dr. Oppenheim was a Fulbright scholar in Egypt and Britain, and a Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. He has written on modern Egypt; Sudan; colonialism; minorities in the Middle East; as well as sports and politics; he was Project Editor of the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East [Macmillan, 1996. He is a frequent commentator on Middle East affairs in international, national, and regional media. Dr. Oppenheim was educated in Egypt, France, and the U.S., he earned BA, MA, M.Phil, and PhD. degrees from Columbia University.
GEORGE PATTERSON, M.A.
Professor George Patterson completed his undergraduate degree, an A.B. in Public and International Affairs, at Princeton University, and received an M.A. in Modern European History from the University of California, Berkeley. He had almost completed another graduate program at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs when he left to accept appointment to the United Nations Secretariat. Within the United Nations, he was the director of the Interpretation, Meetings and Documentation Division of the Office of Conference Services in the Department of Administration and Management, director of the Editorial and Official Records Division in the Office of Conference Services, director of the Industrial Operations Support Division in the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, director of the Department of Industrial Operations, director of the Administrative Management Service, director of the Division of Administration, and head of the Industrial Development Board Secretariat.
CATHERINE SHEVLIN PIERCE, M.A.
Professor Catherine Shevlin Pierce, a consultant in international development, has worked in this field for over twenty five years, initially at The World Bank and subsequently at the United Nations. From 2000 to 2003, she was the Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Technical Services Team for the Pacific, which advises governments and civil society organizations on population and sustainable development initiatives designed to assist countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Professor Pierce has worked extensively on human rights concerns and women and development issues and took an active role in the UN global conferences of the 1990s. She managed the UNFPA Global Training Program in Population and Development situated in universities in Botswana, Chile, Egypt, India and Morocco and chaired the UN Development Group Task Force on Knowledge Sharing. She has written widely on population and development and is a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Ms. Pierce graduated cum laude from Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY and holds advanced degrees from Purdue University in history and Georgetown University in demography.
PATRICK REED, J.D., M.A.L.D., PH.D.
Dr. Patrick Reed has taught the politics of international economic relations and related subjects in the international relations program at NYU-SCPS since 1995. He is an international trade lawyer with the law firm of Simons & Wiskin. His law practice concentrates on U.S. international trade, customs, and import-export law, including international trade agreements such as the World Trade Organization agreements and the North American Free Trade Agreement. He regularly represents business clients in administrative proceedings before federal agencies responsible for international trade matters and in litigation in the U.S. Court of International Trade and other federal courts. Mr. Reed graduated from Indiana University. He received his law degree from Columbia University School of Law. He received a master's degree and a Ph.D. in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, with concentrations in international law and international economic relations. He is the author of a treatise on judicial review in international trade matters, The Role of Federal Courts in US Customs & International Trade Law (Oceana 1997). His most recent publication is "Relationship of WTO Obligations to U.S. International Trade Law: Internationalist Vision Meets Domestic Reality", 38 Georgetown Journal of International law 209-249 (2006).
JOHN P. RENNINGER, M.A., PH.D.
Dr. John Renninger retired from the UN Secretariat in 2005 after 30 years of service. He is now an international consultant and lecturer. Beginning in 1992, Mr. Renninger occupied senior positions in the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA), where he was the senior American. His last two positions were Director, Americas and Europe Division (2003-2005) and Director, Asia and Pacific Division (2001-2003). In these positions he provided political advice and helped shape the diplomatic initiatives of the Secretary-General, particularly regarding early warning, preventive action and peacemaking. He represented the United Nations at many meetings of other intergovernmental organizations, including the European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. At UN headquarters he was intimately involved with the transition to independence in South Africa, where he served as an election monitor. He also helped plan the consultation leading to the independence of East Timor and played a key role in designing the UN mission dispatched to Afghanistan following the overthrow of the Taliban regime. From 1989 to 1992, he worked in the fields of inter-agency coordination and economic affairs. From 1974 to 1989 he was at UNITAR, eventually becoming Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for Research. In this position he had many contacts with the academic world and authored various books, monographs, and articles concerning UN issues. Mr. Renninger attended Northwestern University (BA, political science), The George Washington University (MA. International Affairs) and the University of Pittsburgh (PH.D., International Affairs). From 1969 to 1971 he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.
MAYA SABATELLO, LL.B., PH.D.
Dr. Maya Sabatello is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for Global Affairs, NYU and has earned her doctorate in the Political Science Department at the University of Southern California. She holds an LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a member of the Israeli Bar Association. She is a permanent representative for a nongovernmental organization at the United Nations and has participated in UN sessions on the formulation of the International Convention on the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women and is a member of the UN's Working Group on Girls. Her research interests include international law, comparative human rights, politics of identity, culture and law, and bioethics. Her dissertation was on children's rights and she has published articles on women's rights, folk medicine, and disability.
LYNDA SELDE, J.D.
Professor Lynda Selde's experience in international relations has spanned work for both major relief and development NGOs (including CARE and the US Committee for UNICEF) and the United Nations (where she worked for UNIFEM, United Nations Volunteers, and the United Nations Staff College). Currently, Professor Selde serves as Director of International Relations for the Girl Scouts of the USA, a 3.8 million member organization based in New York City. In June 2005, she was elected Chair of the United Nations Association of the USA Council of Organizations - New York, and in this position holds a seat on the National Board of Directors of the UNA-USA. She has been an adjunct faculty member of NYU's Center for Global Affairs since January 2004. Professor Selde holds a B.A. in International Studies from American University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
PATRICIA A. SAMWICK, M.I.A.
Professor Patricia Samwick is the president of Samwick Management Group (SMG), a consulting firm specializing in marketing, fundraising and sales. She has spent more than 20 years working the in the field of international finance, as well as advising global NGOs. Her consulting projects have included work on a major UN affiliate's donor base repositioning. Prior to forming her own consulting group, Professor Samwick spent more than eighteen years with Citigroup working extensively in Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East. Her most recent position was the Sales Director for the Global E- Business Group, where she was responsible for sales to universities in Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and the U.S. Currently, she is working on a book detailing the life of a female consultant in Kuwait. Professor Samwick has been an adjunct lecturer at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs for the past 6 years and joined the faculty of the NYU Center for Global Affairs in early 2004. Professor Samwick holds a B.A. from Connecticut College and M.I.A. from Columbia University's School of International Affairs. She also earned a certificate from NYU in Fundraising and Philanthropy.
CHRISTINE SHAW, M.A., PH.D.
Christine Shaw has worked for the United Nations since 1969, where she has undertaken analytical work geared toward both the diplomatic and academic communities. Currently, she serves as Senior Economic Affairs Officer in the Development Policy and Planning Office of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs. She serves as the department's trade specialist, writing regularly for the UN's World Economic and Social Survey. Previously, she has taught courses in economics and international economics at the Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY). A specialist in trade, development and globalization, she holds a B.A in Economics and Sociology from Harvard, an M.A. in Economics, Statistics and Demography from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.
JENNIFER TRAHAN, J.D., LL.M.
Jennifer Trahan will be teaching International Criminal Law and Tribunals. She holds an A.B. degree from Amherst College, a J.D. from New York University Law School and an LL.M. from Columbia University Law School. Since 2002 she has been counsel and of counsel to Human Rights Watch, International Justice Program. She has extensive experience in international criminal law and is author of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Topical Digests of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (Human Rights Watch, 2006) as well as several other publications in international criminal law and human rights law.
MAYRA RODRIGUEZ VALLADARES, M.B.A., M.A.
Professor Mayra Rodriguez Valladares has two decades of experience in risk management and capital markets, enterprise development, finance, marketing and research in the US and emerging markets. Since 1998 she has been President of MRV Associates, Inc. She has worked with private sector companies, USAID, World Bank, FIRST Initiative, NGOs and not for profit organizations. She has managed and trained multi-national teams in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Nigeria, Russia, UK, and the US. She began her business career with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she was a foreign exchange trader. She then moved to JP Morgan and worked in their investment banking division as well as in the emerging markets sales, trade and research division. Just prior to founding her own company she was vice president, senior Russian equity analyst at Btalex. Brown. The recipient of several fellowships, she has dual degrees from the University of Pennsylvania's: an MBA, Emerging Markets, from The Wharton School and an MA in Eurasian Studies from The Lauder Institute; and an AB in Russian and Soviet Studies from Harvard and Radcliffe. She was also a Raoul Wallenberg Scholar at the Hebrew University. She is the author of two books, and multiple articles dealing with energy.
SARAH WIKENCZY, M.A., M.S.
Sarah Wikenczy is a Special Advisor for policy and programming at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York. She has over twelve years of humanitarian and post-conflict experience with the United Nations, international NGOs and the US government. Her areas of focus include protection, human rights, and peace building. She has worked and managed programs in conflict-affected countries throughout the Africa, Asia and Middle East. She holds a BA in Economics and Political Science, a MA in International Relations focusing on the Middle East and a MS in Management of International Organizations.