Dr. Christianna Nichols Leahy
Associate Professor of Comparative Politics and Chair of the Cross
Cultural Studies Program.
Contact:
EDUCATION:
Ph.D., May 1989
Comparative Government
Georgetown University
(Oral Comprehensive Passed with Distinction)
M.A., August 1979
Comparative Government, summa cum laude
Georgetown University
B.A., August 1978
Political Science, magna cum laude
The American University
School of Government and School of International Service
HONORS:Outstanding Young Women
of the Year, 1981,1989
Phi Gamma Mu- Social Science Honor Society
Phi Kappa Phi- Interdisciplinary Honor Society
Phi Sigma Alpha- Political Science Honor Society
Distinguished Teaching Award at Western Maryland College, 1994
Recognized for Distinguished Teaching by the American Political
Science Association, 1994
EMPLOYMENT:
1984- Present
The Department of Political Science and International Studies
Western Maryland College renamed 2002 McDaniel College
Westminster, Maryland
1987-Fall Semester
Sabbatical Replacement for Professor, Adjunct Professor
Mount Saint Mary's College
Department of Political Science
Emmitsburg, Maryland
(See supplemental materials with student comments on teaching)
1985-Summer Research Grant
H.B. Earhardt Foundation and the Centrol de Linguas
Department of Education, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Research for Thesis and Certificate in Portuguese Language
1983- Fall and Spring Semesters
Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
Graduate Teaching Fellow
1982- Fall Semester
Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars
1982- Spring Semester
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Service
Paul Nitze School
Research Assistant
1980-1983
Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
Graduate Teaching Fellow
1979-1980
Consultant to Dodge Cork Company, Lisbon, Portugal Feasibility study
for U.S. based multinational corporation operating in Portugal and seeking
O.P.I.C. loans contingent upon Portuguese accession to the European
Union Project- risk analysis
1976-1978
The American University
Research Assistant to Dr. Amos Perlmutter on Modern Authoritarianism
and The Journal of Strategic Studies
LANGUAGES: German and Portuguese
MEMBERSHIPS: African Studies Association
American Association of University Professors
American Political Science Association
Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs
International Conference Group on Modern Portugal
International Campaign to Ban Landmines
EFFECTIVE TEACHING:
This is the most important area of my professional life and the one
from which I derive the most satisfaction. I have concentrated on this
area with an enormous amount of attention and passion.
In the fourteen years I have been teaching at WMC, over 18 of my students
have gone on to graduate programs in Political Science with me as their
undergraduate mentor.
DISTINGUISHED TEACHING AWARD-1994
I was also named as one of the best teachers by the Phoenix (the student
newspaper) the following year.
PUBLIC LECTURES ON PEDAGOGY- (by invitation) for "The Top of
the Hill," Series for Alumni and guests, for the Founders Society
Annual Dinner, and for Informal Brown Bag Series on Teaching sponsored
by the Dean of the Faculty
COURSES I TEACH: (In addition to
the normal load of courses within my own department, please note the
courses I have taught outside of my department and outside of this institution):
Introduction to Political Science
Comparative Politics: Western Europe (United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Spain, Portugal and the European Union),
Politics of the Developing Areas: Case studies in Latin America
(Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Cuba) and in Africa (Mozambique and Angola)
Communist and Postcommunist Political Systems: China and the
Former Soviet Union (now CIS)
Conflict Resolution, Peacemaking and Peacekeeping in the Post Cold
War World (everything from "preventive diplomacy" to an
analysis of the Gulf War, the War in Bosnia and Kosovo, The continuing
conflict in the North of Ireland, to International Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law are explored in order to understand and
prevent conflict)
Comparative Regimes Ideologies and Movements
Comparative Political Parties (Western Europe)
Senior Seminar on Contemporary Political Problems: (International
Human Rights Law and Foreign Policy)
World Politics
*Honors Seminar on Imperialism and Culture
*Honors Section of Politics of the Developing Areas
*Honors Section of Comparative Communist Systems
*Honors Seminar on Conflict Resolution, Peacemaking,and Peacekeeping
in the Post-Cold War World
*Comparative Politics and American Political History at the Institute
for International Studies at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands
.
GUEST PROFESSOR for ANNUAL LECTURE:
Western Maryland College,
Budapest, Hungary "Topic- Two Endangered Species- Sovereignty and
the Nation-State"
MODEL EUROPEAN UNION - I take 12-15 students per year
to a model European Union in Washington, D.C. Fifteen colleges participate.
.
MODEL ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: I took 12 students to Washington
to participate in the Model O.A.S. simulation where over 20colleges
participate.
BALTIMORE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
I take students every year to lectures at the B.C.F.A. and to the annual
foreign policy day symposium with foreign policy makers and analysts.
OTHER OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM TEACHING WITH
STUDENTS: I have taken students to the Johns Hopkins School
of Advanced Studies Brown Bag Lunch Series on Political Development,
to Georgetown University's Diplomacy Series Lectures, and to the Israeli
Embassy Public Affairs Lecture Series.
SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER INSTITUTES
FOR FACULTY ON TEACHING: The University of Virginia
Summer on the Lawn Seminar for faculty. Human Rights and Globalization
(Summer 2000)
Carnegie Endowment for Ethics and International Affairs, "Teaching
Ethics in International Politics," at the Monterey Institute for
International Studies (Summer 1995)
The United States Institute for Peace Summer Faculty Seminar
on "Teaching Conflict Resolution, Peacemaking, and Peacekeeping
in the Post Cold War World (Summer 1995)
.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowship with
the East-West Center The University of Hawaii, Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii
(Summer 1997)
Seminar on Southeast Asian Cultures
Invited to participate as one of 12 experts on foreign policy by Charles
S. McCoy
Senior Fellow, the Center for Ethics and Social Policy, Berkeley
and The Center for Strategic and International Studies (Fall
1997) for a consultation on the newly-emerging issues of culture and
ethics in international politics.
ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS:
Chair of the Cross-Cultural Studies Program (1995-now)
Director of Study Abroad Programs(1991-3)
Director of Affirmative Action for Faculty(1993-5)
President of the American Association of University Professors, WMC
chapter (1992-3)
Liaison Officer for the Washington Semester Program of The American
University to which Western Maryland has sent six students in the last
four years.
CAMPUS-WIDE AND PUBLIC
LECTURES: (I have been asked to lecture publicly on numerous
occasions)
Lecture on Russia for Parents Weekend, 1985
Lecture on Terrorism for Phi Sigma Mu, 1985
Scholar's Club lecture on Portugal, 1985
Lecture for Baltimore Business community, on elections' outcome, election
day 1988
Radio, news, and t.v. interviews after Soviet Study Tour, 1988
Commencement, Faculty Speaker, 1989
New Student Orientation: Colloquium on "Impact of Civil Rights Movements
in American Society," Respondent to comments of Dr. James Core Briggs,
Union Theological Seminary, 1989
Top of the Hill Program Lecture on Teaching, 1989
Panel on Poverty and Crime, Phi Sigma Mu, 1990
Opening Lecture to Discussion with Israeli Embassy Official and Counselor
to the PLO on Arab-Israeli Peace Process, 1994
Keynote Speaker for WMC Founders Society, 1994
Top of the Hill Program Lecture, on Applied
Political Science: Research and Activism, 1994
Lecture on U.S.- Cuban Relations 1800-1995, for the Campus and greater
WMC community, 1995
Lecture on The Future of the Nation-state and Sovereignty, Budapest, Hungary,
1996
Arranged the Honor's Program Annual Lecture for which the Honorable
Anne Wilhelm Bijelveld, head of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees for the United States and Caribbean spoke at Western Maryland
College, December, 1997.
RESEARCH, CREATIVE WORK, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL
ACTIVITY:
Chapter in Edited Volume "Teaching Conflict Resolution, Peacemaking,
and Peacekeeping in the Post Cold War World,"Published by the United
States Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C., 1996.
Project with the United States Institute of Peace and the Peacekeeping
Institute of the United States Army on "The Role of Nongovernmental
Organizations and the Military in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies."
Country expert for Amnesty International on Lusophone African countries,
including: Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe,
(plus Equatorial Guinea although it is a former Spanish colony in Africa).
In that capacity I have performed the following:
-been called upon to give expert testimony to the House of
Representatives Subcommittee on African Affairs
-been called upon to engage in diplomatic discussions with
heads of state, members of parliament, supreme court justices,
and military generals from the countries listed
above to express Amnesty Internationals' concerns about
human rights violations in those countries
-been called upon to represent Amnesty International in
panels at the African Studies Association Annual Meetings
to discuss human rights in Southern Africa
-been called upon to write the year end summaries of human
rights abuses in the countries I monitor for AI
-been called upon to meet with the desk officers of the
United States Department of State to share concerns about
human rights abuses in the countries I monitor for AI
-been called upon to research and compile the data for the
countries I monitor that appears in the Amnesty International
Publication, "Human Rights and US Security Assistance"
(currently in its fourth edition).
-been called upon to represent the United States Section
of Amnesty International at Inter-Sectional Discussions of
this international organization. I am the US Sections
delegate to high level policy discussions regarding
Amnesty's role in situations of armed conflict and whether
or not our organization should ever deem it within our
mandate to advocate the use of military force to prevent
further deterioration of an abysmal human rights situation
(e.g. Bosnia and/or Rwanda)
-been called upon to be the United States Section representative for
the Special Program for Africa (a project proposed by the Dutch Section
of AI)
-been called upon to meet with United States Embassy officials serving
in Angola
-been called upon to prepare issues briefs for Secretary of State
Albright for President Clinton's March 1998 trip to Africa (See copy
of briefs in supplemental materials).
Currently Chairing Task Force on the Global AIDS Crisis as a Human
Rights
Issue-I represented Amnesty International at a Conference sponsored
by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University on May 21, 2001 to assist in developing
a human rights framework for the AIDS Crisis in Africa. I returned
from the meeting and immediately wrote and sponsored a Resolution
for AIUSA to be taken to the International Council Meeting in Dakar,
Senegal in August 2001 (where the resolution was passed by 15 sections
of Amnesty International meaning 15 other countries chapters of AI).
I also wrote and I am sponsoring a resolution for the Mid Atlantic
regional meeting of AIUSA, and The Annual General Meeting of AIUSA.
(See the supplemental materials section).
Amnesty International USA, Board of Directors. Have served three
terms on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International (three year
term).
Chair of the International Committee of the AIUSA Board of Directors
Summer 1995- United States Delegate to High Level Intersectional Meeting
of Amnesty International on The Role of Armed Conflict to develop future
AI policy internationally. Geneva, Switzerland
Summer 1996- Head Delegate to Meeting on The Special Program on Africa for
Amnesty International to develop AI strategy on Africa and human rights.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Spring 1997, Participated in Panels at the Conference on Russia's Future
and the National Interest University of Virginia Charlottesville,
Virginia
Fall 1997, Was the discussant for a Panel on Women and the State at
the Northeastern Political Science Association Meeting in Philadelphia
(a former Western Maryland College Student was one of the panelists
as a current doctoral candidate).
Spring 1998, Represented Amnesty International on a Panel on Armed
Humanitarian Intervention and what Amnesty International's position
should be on this issue. Debated the topic with Professor Dimitri Simes
of the Nixon Center and Len Rubenstein, the Executive Director of Physicians
for Human Rights (See supplemental materials)
LONG TERM RESEARCH INTERESTS AND ON-GOING PROJECT-
Studying regime transformation from authoritarian to
Pluralistic (e.g. "democratic," regimes based on the rule
of law)
in not only the countries I currently monitor for Amnesty
International (i.e. Angola and Mozambique specifically), but also in
the former colonizer of those countries, namely, in Portugal (since
the revolution that brought the transition from an authoritarian to
a pluralistic regime there was the subject of my doctoral dissertation),
and in the countries I teach, the former Soviet Union, the regimes in
Eastern Europe, and the Latin American countries that have made the
transition from authoritarian to pluralistic regimes in the recent past.
Continuing to make the case that respect for international human rights
(first articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
now
part of customary international law) is part of conflict prevention,
preventive
diplomacy, peacebuilding, and ultimately will make the world a much
safer
place for all of us.
I hope to return to service on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International
USA when my son is a bit older and the travel schedule is less problematic.
I continue to devote at least twenty hours a week to Amnesty International
in
my capacity as both a country specialist monitoring Lusophone African
countries, as well as the Chair of the Task Force on the AIDS Crisis
as
a human rights issue, and as Amnesty International USA's expert on armed
humanitarian intervention.
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