GPIS alumni news

Careers

Karen Johnson (MA) has accepted a position as the assistant director of the international center at the University of North Florida.

Susan Morris (PhD) has taken a visiting assistant professor position at Elon College.

Cathy Banks (PhD) is now the assistant program director for graduate education and research planning at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center of Old Dominion University.

Selected Ph.D. Graduates

Eric Miller (2003). Dissertation title: "Sources of Inter-State Alignments: Internal Threats and Economic Dependence in the Former Soviet Union" (Posted July 2005)

Eric is an analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy; Missile Defense Agency, US Department of Defense. "I follow international missile defense cooperation with Russia, Ukraine, and the rest of the CIS." Security Studies will soon publish an article drawn from his dissertation research.

Steven Shirley (2003). Dissertation title: "Guided by God: The Catholic Church and Legitimacy in the Philippines"

Steven is in his third year of teaching in Bangkok, Thailand. He teaches for the British and American Studies Program at Thammasat University, and has also been a guest lecturer of Religion and Philosophy, American Government, and International Relations for graduate programs at Thammasat and the royal Ramkhaheang University. He has taught part time at the U.S. Embassy for the University of Maryland, and is an adjunct assistant professor with UMUC's distance education program. "I love living and working in Asia. To be surrounded by all of this history and culture, really helps make my classes come alive. I get out and use the surroundings as much as possible in my courses. In many ways it is like a dream come true, and the education, training, and guidance I received at GPIS has been invaluable to my time in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia." In 2004, Marshall Cavendish Inc. published his Guided By God: The Legacy of the Catholic Church in Philippine Politics.

Blagovest Tashev (2002). Dissertation title: "East European Security Revisited: Institutions, Power and Security"

Blagovest directs the Security Studies Program of the George C. Marshall Association-Bulgaria, in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is also an adjunct professor at St. Kliment Ohrisdki Sofia University where he has offered courses on international security and European-U.S. relations. "I regularly publish op-ed articles in major Bulgarian newspapers dealing with foreign policy, security and defense policy topics. I also appear often on major Bulgarian radio and TV news programs as a foreign policy and defense expert."

Robert Pauly (2001). Dissertation title: "The Impact of Muslim Communities on Society and Governance in Western Europe: Bridging the Gap between Cooperation and Confrontation in Minority-Majority Relations"

Robert is assistant professor of International Policy and Development, University of Southern Mississippi, and the Lead Instructor of Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Norwich University Master of Diplomacy Distance Learning Program. His most recent book is U.S. Foreign Policy and the Persian Gulf: Safeguarding American Interests Through Selective Multilateralism, which was published in 2005 by Ashgate.

Dovile Budryte (2000). Dissertation title: "Community Building in Ethnically Restructured States: The Baltics"

She is Assistant Professor of International Studies, Brenau University, Gainesville, Florida. She was a 2004 National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient, 2000-01 Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (New York) Fellow, and a 1998-99 Fellow at the College for Advanced Central European Studies at Europa University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, where she worked on a project dealing with historical memory in Eastern and Central Europe. "In 2003 I received two top teaching awards: one from the students (Greek Council Faculty Member of the Year), the other one from the faculty (Ann Austin Johnston Outstanding Faculty Member)." Her book, Taming Nationalism? Political Community Building in the Post-Soviet Baltic States was published is to be published by Ashgate in August 2005. Dovile also coordinates her university's international studies program.

Ping Deng (1998). Dissertation title: "Relative-Gains Problem and Case Studies of Economic Cooperation in East Asia"

Ping is associate professor of business administration (with tenure) at the John E. Simon School of Business, Maryville University of St. Louis. "I teach mainly international business and management courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. My scholarship is also in the area of international business studies."

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