I joined the
department in 1997 after completing a post-doc at the York Centre
for International and Security Studies (where I also served as
Assistant Director). I have an MA from Queen's University PhD
from York University (Toronto, Canada). I have received a number
of Fellowships, awards and grants including two Military and Strategic
Studies Doctoral Fellowships from the Canadian Department of National
Defence and an award for teaching excellence at the University
of Manitoba. I also have over a decade of practical experience
in the field of international security, having worked extensively
with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian
Department of National Defence in the areas of non-proliferation,
arms control and disarmament policy. Most recently, I spent the
past year as a Senior Policy Associate with the Department of
Foreign Affairs.
My research
interests can be grouped broadly under the heading of "the
role of organized violence in global political life". Although
I have published on a number of related topics (the weaponization
of space; culture and security; the revolution in military affairs;
the US defense industry), I am currently working on a book project
that traces the evolution of what I call the "fundamental
institution of war" during the medieval, modern and emerging
post-modern eras. My goal in this project is to develop a conceptual
lens that will allow me to answer the following specific questions
about the changing nature of organized political violence: what
is "war" and what distinguishes it from other forms
of politics and violence? How should we conceptualize revolutionary
transformations in the nature of war? What generative forces drive
and condition such transformations? And, what are the implications
of these revolutionary transformations for the theory and practice
of world politics? I have already published the "blueprint"
for this research project in the European Journal of International
Relations (vol. 8, no. 2. June 2002). I will be presenting some
of my more substantive research findings at the annual conference
of the British International Studies Association in December 2004.
My teaching
responsibilities in the department include Foundations of International
Politics, Regional Conflict, Foreign Policy and International
Security. I also regularly teach a section of the department's
Senior Research Seminar. In all of my courses, I try to accomplish
three goals: (1) to ensure that students acquire the foundational
knowledge that is a necessary precondition for the "deep
understanding" of a topic; (2) to cultivate their capacity
for analytic reasoning, critical thinking and rigorous evaluation;
and (3) to help students develop certain practical competencies
(such as information fluency, working in small groups, etc) that
are equally important in the worlds higher education, work and
civic life. I believe that these capacities are best developed
in the context of challenging, rigorous and intellectually engaging
courses involving:
· active, student-centered and problem-based learning;
· collaborative learning;
· demanding writing/research exercises;
· an engagement with real-world "public problems"
(both in and beyond the classroom); and,
· high expectations based on widely agreed and
clearly understood standards of academic excellence.
Finally, I
believe teaching political science at a pre-eminent liberal arts
college is primarily about educating students for lives as effective
"global citizen-leaders". The cornerstone of such an
approach, of course, is sharpening the intellect and developing
the higher order reasoning and critical thinking skills that are
necessary for both the life of the mind and for a life of civic
engagement and leadership. Beyond that, however, such an educational
project also requires that attention be paid to cultivating other
aspects of the students' humanity: their capacity for moral reasoning;
their ability to envision alternative futures; their potential
for sympathetically understanding other cultures, their capacity
to lead an "examined life"; and their ability to make
the concept of kosmou polit's (world citizen) a meaningful part
of who they are and what they do. Accordingly, in my classes I
also try to help students cultivate personal qualities of leadership,
civility, character, respect for diversity and civic engagement.
I also firmly
believe in serving the College and in working with my colleagues
to enhance the quality of the education we offer our students.
Reflecting this, over the past few years I have been engaged in
several aspects of college governance, including:
· Associate Director of the Center for Scholarship
and Teaching;
· Faculty Director of Project Pericles (which
focused on promoting civic engagement at the College);
· Chair of the elected Educational Policy and
Governance committee; and
· Special Assistant to the President for Global
Citizenship and Leadership
