Cheryl O'Brien

Office: NH 107 | Email: [email protected]

Cheryl O'Brien is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR) Program at SDSU. She has worked on public policy and human security issues for NGOs in the US, Africa, and Latin America. UNHCR Staff cited her NGO work on gender, health, environment, and resource conflict as a key factor that led to an NGO’s implementing partner status, allowing for scaled-up efforts to address these concerns in refugee camps in east Africa. She served as a Gender Specialist for Feed the Future (Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative) Projects in Kenya, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh, and Guatemala.

Her research and teaching interests include comparative public policy, social movements and networks, human rights and security, gendered violence and authoritarianism, social justice, and environmental justice. Her academic publications have focused on violence against women and food security, drawing from her fieldwork in multiple countries. Through a set of qualitative case studies and a broader statistical analysis, she explored the role that international norms and transnational actors play in shaping state policy responsiveness to violence against women in Mexico and Nigeria, winning the 2014 Best Dissertation in Women and Politics, American Political Science Association. She earned BA's in Sociology and English (Literature) from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Education from Harvard University, a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies (Public Policy and Women in an International Context) from Towson University, and an MA and PhD in Political Science from Purdue University, where she was inducted into their Teaching Academy for exemplary teaching.