Directors' Biographies
Dr. Peter Mandaville is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs and Co-Director of Mason’s Center for Global Studies. He previously taught at the University of Kent at Canterbury in the UK. He holds degrees from the University of St. Andrews and the University of Kent, and has also studied at the American University in Cairo. Visiting affiliations have included American University, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is most recently the author of Global Political Islam (London: Routledge, 2007). Other books include Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma (London: Routledge, 2001; paperback 2003), and several co-edited volumes and anthologies such as Globalizing Religions (London: Sage, forthcoming 2007), The Zen of International Relations (London: Palgrave 2001) and Meaning and International Relations (London: Routledge, 2003). He has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles, contributed to publications such as the International Herald Tribune and The New Republic, and consulted extensively for media, government and non-profit agencies. Much of his recent work has focused on the comparative study of religious authority and social movements in the Muslim world. His current research interests include Islam & globalization, theories of cosmopolitanism, and global development.
Dr. Terrence Lyons is Co-Director of the Center for Global Studies and an Associate Professor in the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University . His research has focused on the relationships between protracted civil wars and processes of political development and sustainable peace, with a particular focus on Africa . Among his publications are: Demilitarizing Politics: Elections on the Uncertain Road to Peace (Lynne Rienner, 2005), Voting for Peace: Postconflict Elections in Liberia (Brookings Institution, 1999), Sovereignty as Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa (Brookings Institution, 1996). In addition to his research and teaching, he has served as an international election observer in Ethiopia , Eritrea , Ghana , Bangladesh , Benin , and Liberia and has worked as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank on issues relating to democracy and conflict. He received his doctorate in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies and served as a Fellow at the Brookings Institution and as Senior Researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo.
Staff Biographies
Dr. Sada Aksartova is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Global Studies in the 2007-2008 academic year. Her research has focused on changes in foreign aid after the Cold War, the relationship between foreign aid and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), US foundation philanthropy, and Western assistance for post-Soviet transition. After completing her PhD in sociology at Princeton University in 2005, she spent two years in Tokyo researching Japanese foreign aid and assistance for Central Asia. She has published articles in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Voluntas, The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law, and Theory, Culture & Society. While at George Mason University, she is revising her doctoral dissertation "Civil Society from Abroad: US Donors in the Former Soviet Union" into a book manuscript, writing up her research on Japanese foreign aid, and teaching a graduate seminar on the politics of global development at the Department of Public and International Affairs in the spring of 2008.
Marcy Glover is the Global Programs Coordinator at CGS, the Global & Educational Programs Coordinator in the Office of the Provost, and the Chapter Coordinator for Phi Beta Delta/Epsilon Delta Chapter. She received her M.S. in Transportation Policy, Operations, and Logistics (TPOL) and her B.S. in Public Administration from GMU.
Susan Graziano, the University's International Grant Coordinator, holds a BA from Bucknell University. Prior to coming to Mason she worked for nearly 20 years with the American Association of Museums (AAM) on the development and evaluation of professional standards for museums. She was the director of the Museum Assessment Program, a national peer review program, and also worked for the association's Accreditation Program. Susan worked as a consultant for other museum-related associations, as well as for a museum writer/editor on books and articles related to museums. Since coming to Mason in 2004, Susan has been responsible for coordinating the efforts of various academic units within the university to develop research and education projects with a global focus. Her work has helped to attract support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Freeman Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.
Randa A. Kayyali is the Research Assistant and Coordinator of CGS' 'Global Migration and Transnational Politics' project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. She is author of The Arab Americans (Greenwood Press, 2006), which received an award from the Arab American National Museum in the non-fiction book category. In July 2007, The Arab Americans was translated into Arabic and published by the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing. In addition, she has authored two articles, "The Branch Campus: Globalization and US Universities in the Gulf" and, "The People Perceived as a Threat to Security: Arab Americans Since September 11." She received her M.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from the American University in Cairo and a B.A. in Politics from Oberlin College. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at George Mason University where she has taught an undergraduate class on globalization and culture for two years.
Arnaud Kurze is the Web and Publications Editor at CGS. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at GMU and holds a MA in Governance studies from University of Hagen, Germany and a BA in International Relations from Sciences Po, France. Past research includes a graduate thesis on peace building and the use of private military corporations and an honors thesis analyzing transatlantic politics of genetically modified organisms. His research interests are European integration and identity, critical security studies, and negotiation theory.