Christian Davenport (Ph.D., political science, Binghamton University) was hired to join the Kroc faculty as professor of political science and peace studies. Since 1999, he has been on the faculty of the University of Maryland, where he directed the Minorities at Risk Data Project. Among his publications are State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and Media Bias and State Repression: The Black Panther Party (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press). He has held visiting appointments at the Transitional Justice Institute at the University of Ulster, Ireland; the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Studies at Stanford University; and the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway.
Atalia Omer (Ph.D., religion and society, Harvard University) joined the Kroc faculty as assistant professor of religion, conflict, and peace studies. She also has a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, with a concentration in world religions with special emphasis on Judaism and Islam. Her research focuses on the dynamics of ethno-national conflicts, political and social theory, and the intersection of religion, nationalism, and issues of justice, peace, and conflict, especially in the Middle East.
Emad Shahin (Ph.D., political science, Johns Hopkins University) was hired to join the Kroc faculty as the Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding. Since 2006, he has been a visiting professor in the department of government at Harvard University and a visiting scholar in Harvard’s Islamic Legal Studies Program. Two years in a row, he was nominated for the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize. Since 1998, he has been a tenured professor at American University in Cairo. Shahin is a comparativist who excavates and examines the foundations for democracy and political self-governance within Islamic law, philosophy, and political practice. His books include Political Ascent: Contemporary Islamic Movements in North Africa (Westview Press, 1998) and Through Muslim Eyes: Muhammad Rashid Rida and the West (1993).
Jason A. Springs (Ph.D., religion and society, Harvard University) joined the Kroc faculty as assistant professor of religion, ethics, and peace studies. Since 2006, he has been on the faculty of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at American University. He also has a divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he concentrated on ethics and philosophy. His research integrates religious ethics with moral and political philosophy, looking at ways that ethical theories might critique, transform, and resolve contemporary challenges to social justice and religious conflicts.
Ernesto Verdeja (Ph.D., political theory, New School for Social Research) joined the Kroc faculty as assistant professor of political science and peace studies. Since 2004, he has been on the faculty in the Department of Government at Wesleyan University. His research interests center on transitional justice, reconciliation in the aftermath of political violence, genocide, and reparative justice. He recently completed a joint appointment as a research associate at Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Social Movements and Social Change and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
