JENNIFER OGG ANDERSON
International Relations, Comparative Politics
jennifer.ogg@vanderbilt.edu

Jennifer is the senior editorial intern for the Journal of Politics.  She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin, earning degrees in Political Science, International Studies and French.  Now in her third year of graduate work, her research interests include foreign policy, public opinion and international conflict.  Before coming to Vanderbilt, she worked for the Tennessee state legislature and studied at the University of Orleans in France.  A self-proclaimed sports enthusiast, Jennifer also enjoys traveling, bargain hunting and board games.

Stacy holds a B.A. in Communications and an M.A. in Political Science from Ohio University.  Originally from Crooksville, Ohio, she joined the Vanderbilt PhD program in the fall of 2006.  Her first field is Political Theory with a subfield in American Politics.  Her primary interests are in feminist theory, social contract theory, human rights, and disability rights. Recently she has helped organize a disability studies seminar at the Robert Penn Warren Center. In her spare time (and under nice weather conditions) she enjoys exploring the many nature hikes in and around Nashville.

ABBY CORDOVA
Comparative Politics (Latin America)
abby.b.cordova@vanderbilt.edu

Abby, originally from El Salvador, is interested in Latin American politics,  political economy, and public opinion research.  She entered the Vanderbilt PhD program in Political Science in the Fall 2005; Abby has two master’s degrees from Vanderbilt; one in Economic Development and a second one in Latin American Studies.  In El Salvador, she was a faculty member of the Department of Economics at the UCA (Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas). Her previous research focused on poverty and income inequality themes.

JUAN CARLOS DONOSO
Comparative Politics (Latin America)
juan.c.donoso@vanderbilt.edu

Juan Carlos is a second year Graduate Student. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and obtained his B.A on International Relations from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in the same country. His research interests lie mostly in the fields of Comparative and International Politics. Juan Carlos works as a Research Assistant for the Latin America Public Opinion Project and is currently involved in the writing of the project's Democracy Audit for Colombia 2005 as well as the preparations for the study to be conducted in Ecuador in 2006. In the field of International Politics, he is currently researching the impact of US military presence on geopolitical stability around the world. On his spare time, Juan Carlos enjoys playing intramural sports and has dedicated much time to build a strong Political Science intramural soccer team, which has had a dramatic turnaround in just one year.

Marine Ghulyan has transferred to Vanderbilt PhD program in Political Science from Washington State University.  She received her MA in International Relations and Political Theory from University of Westminster, London, UK.  Marina has an undergraduate degree in humanities and Foreign Languages from Artsakh State University, NK, Armenia.  She is outstanding award recipient:  full scholarship to study in UK and Lazarian graduate scholarship to study at WSU.

Marina’s research interests fall into the areas of peace and conflict resolution, and the politics of nonviolence.  She has experience working with International Organizations on various humanitarian missions: The HALO Trust, British international charity specializing in the removal of debris of war, Medicines sans Frontiers-France and Medicines sans Frontiers-Belgium.

John graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2005 from the University of Connecticut with majors in Political Science and Economics.  He completed an Honors thesis entitled, "An Appropriate Role for the Leadership: Quantitative Analysis of the Effects of House Leadership on Open-Seat Races." He is currently a first year Ph.D. student with concentrations in judicial politics, Congress, and methods. John is a junior fellow at the <ST1:PLACE><ST1:PLACENAME>American</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE>Academy</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> of Political and Social Science and formerly served as an intern in the <ST1:PLACE><ST1:CITY>Washington</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:STATE>DC</ST1:STATE></ST1:PLACE>, office of Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-03). Currently, he is working on an NSF-funded project with Dr. Stefanie Lindquist examining overruling behavior on state supreme courts.

JAMES McHENRY
Comparative Politics and Political Theory
E-Mail: james.r.mchenry@vanderbilt.edu

James earned a BS from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, an MA from Vanderbilt University, and a JD from the Vanderbilt University Law School. He also completed two years of graduate work in Political Science at the University of Michigan and has served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Political Science Department at Vanderbilt University. His research interests include determinants of  immigration law and policy, international law, American constitutional law, and the development of the rule of law in new democracies.

DANIEL MONTALVO
Comparative Politics (Latin America), International Politics
daniel.montalvo@vanderbilt.edu  

Daniel, originally from Quito-Ecuador, joined the Political Science Ph.D. program in 2006. In addition, Daniel currently works as Research Assistant at the AmericasBarometer & Latin American Public Opinion Project  (LAPOP). He has worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO-UN) as Technical Officer and at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture of the Organization of American States (IICA-OAS) as Development Advisor. His duties and responsibilities were mainly concerned with Public Policy advice for local development, the Millennium Development Goals and Institutionalization. Daniel's main interests are Decentralization, Democratization and Development. He earned a M.S. degree in Agricultural Economics with mention in Development Economics from Wageningen University, The Netherlands in 2003.

Social Movements, Caste Politics, Politics of Group Representation, Human Rights, Deliberative Democracy and Women and Leadership.

Current research:

Sapra's current research focuses on changing notions of transnational citizenship, taking at is starting point an analysis of transnational social movements, advocacy networks, and civil society, and examining the role played and strategies employed by these networks in the pursuit of women’s equality and national citizenship. This research specifically attempts to address a lacunae in the plethora of literature on women and citizenship by discussing the role that speech and silence plays in women’s rights movements locally and transnationally – illustrative discussion will include cases in the United States, India, Turkey, Bangladesh, and indigenous communities in the US.

 Vivian is an Associate with CIUDADANIA, Comunidad de Estudios Sociales y Acción Pública (a Bolivian NGO) andworks for tthe Latin American Public Opinion Project at Vanderbilt (LAPOP). Her interest fields are Comparative Politics and Political Theory with a special focus on Latin American Politics.  She is currently focusing on political institutions and issues of trust and system support.

 She loves good literature, good music and good movies, dancing and crossword puzzles. She also likes learning new languages. She never rejects a good discussion about politics or religious issues and a good coffee. Her very special joy are her dogs, Isadora and Lucas.

YIJIA WANG
Comparative Politics and International Relations
E-Mail: yijia.wang@vanderbilt.edu