Transatlantic Ties and Opportunities - Guest Speakers
Dr. Michael Anderson
Professor and Director, International Relations and Global Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor of Instruction and Director of International Relations & Global Studies at UT Austin. His work focuses on trans-Pacific networks and citizen diplomacy, and he co-authored Political and Economic Foundations in Global Studies. He also directs the Global Challenges in France program and serves on the board of the UNA-USA Austin chapter.
Dr. Elise Chelle
Professor, Political Science, Paris Nanterre University, France
Professor of Political Science at Paris Nanterre University and Associate Researcher at Sciences Po. She is Editor-in-Chief of Politique Américaine and focuses on comparative health policy, policy-politics dynamics, and U.S. elections.
Dr. Alison Craig
Associate Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Associate professor at UT Austin, specializing in public policy, American politics, and political methodology. Her research, supported by the National Science Foundation, explores how members of Congress collaborate to craft policy despite partisan divides, as detailed in her book The Collaborative Congress. Before earning her Ph.D. from Ohio State in 2017, she spent over a decade working on Capitol Hill and in Oregon, gaining hands-on experience in legislative affairs. She teaches courses on U.S. political institutions, Congress, and advanced analytical methods.
Dr. Sonia Feigenbaum
Senior Vice Provost for Global Engagement and Chief International Officer
Senior vice provost for Global Engagement and chief international officer at UT Austin, where she has led transformative initiatives to expand the university’s global reach since 2019. Under her leadership, Texas Global was rebranded to reflect a broader vision for global engagement at the University of Texas and created a comprehensive virtual institutional global presence. Additionally, she has raised over $62 million to support international programs and partnerships across 63 countries. With prior roles at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Brown University, and in federal agencies, Dr. Feigenbaum brings deep expertise in global strategy, policymaking, and international education. She holds advanced degrees in Spanish from Indiana University and speaks six languages.
Dr. Jesse C. Johnson
Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Associate professor of Government at UT Austin, specializing in international security and military alliances. His work appears in top journals, including International Organization and Journal of Politics. He teaches courses on international relations and security.
Dr. Charles Joseph
Associate Professor, U.S. Cultural Studies, Le Mans Université, France
Associate professor of U.S. Cultural Studies at Le Mans Université, France. His primary research focuses on Los Angeles as a highly autonomous symbolic space. His Ph.D. explored how the work of Wanda Coleman constitutes an oppositional history to the one that the city has memorialized of and on itself. He is now focusing on the processes of musealization of the postmetropolis and the different ways that contemporary art is transforming the region.
Professor Adam Klein
Senior Lecturer, Law and Director, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin
Director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at UT Austin and teaches national-security law at the UT School of Law. He previously served as Senate-confirmed Chairman of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, overseeing counterterrorism programs across federal agencies. His career spans legal practice, national-security research, and policy roles at institutions like the Supreme Court, RAND Corporation, and the U.S. Congress. A graduate of Northwestern and Columbia Law, he speaks German and French and leads the Strauss Center’s Technology, Security, and Global Affairs program.
Dr. Mark Atwood Lawrence
Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History and Professor, Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor of History and holds the Walter Prescott Webb Chair at UT Austin. He served as director of the LBJ Presidential Library from 2020 to 2024 and is a leading scholar of U.S. foreign relations, especially the Vietnam War era. A graduate of Stanford and Yale, he has authored and edited numerous books, including The End of Ambition and The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, and has co-edited volumes on Cold War politics, environmental history, and global affairs.
Dr. Vincent Michelot
Full Professor of American Politics, Sciences Po Lyon, France
Full professor of American Politics at Sciences Po Lyon and Vice President for International Relations at ENS Lyon. A graduate of École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud and an agrégé in English, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Provence and his Habilitation from Sciences Po Paris. His research centers on U.S. constitutional law, inter-branch dynamics, and party politics. He has held leadership roles in academia and diplomacy, including director of Campus France USA and Attaché for Higher Education at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Michael W. Mosser
Director, Center for European Studies and Associate Professor of Instruction, Departments of Government and International Relations and Global Studies, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Director of UT Austin’s Center for European Studies and associate professor in Government and International Relations. A Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center, he teaches courses on European politics, international security, and foreign policy, and formerly led the Global Disinformation Lab. Recognized for his outstanding teaching, he’s active in campus initiatives and public engagement, including op-eds and media appearances. His research spans European security, disinformation, and military sociology, with recent work on small states in EU foreign policy. He holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Dr. Maud Quessard
Senior Research Fellow, Director of Transtlantic Studies, The Institut for Strategic Research at the Paris Military School (IRSEM), France
Senior research fellow and Director of transatlantic Studies at IRSEM, the strategic research institute of the Paris Military School. A graduate of Sciences Po and La Sorbonne, she specializes in American foreign policy, strategic competition, and information warfare. She has held academic positions across France, was a visiting fellow at Harvard, and a laureate of the U.S. State Department’s IVLP program. Her publications include Guerres de l'information et stratégies d'influence and co-edited volumes on U.S. power politics and digital propaganda.
Dr. Lorinc Redei
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education and Associate Professor of Instruction, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
Associate professor of instruction and assistant dean for undergraduate education at UT Austin’s LBJ School. He teaches European Union foreign policy and democratic backsliding and previously served as a press officer at the European Parliament.
Dr. Zeynep Somer-Topcu
Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor in UT Austin’s Department of Government and a leading scholar of party politics and voter behavior in parliamentary democracies. She serves as chief editor of the British Journal of Political Science, vice-president of MPSA, and chair of the EPSS Diversity Committee. Her recent book, Glass Ceilings, Glass Cliffs, and Quicksands, explores the challenges faced by women party leaders. She teaches courses on European politics, comparative parties, and research methods, and is currently researching campaign rhetoric and voter perceptions.
Dr. Sean Theriault
Professor, J. J. "Jake" Pickle Regents Chair in Congressional Studies, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
J. J. "Jake" Pickle Regents Chair in Congressional Studies, University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Government at UT Austin whose research focuses on congressional decision-making and party polarization. He has authored six books and numerous articles on topics ranging from Senate dynamics to historical legislation. A celebrated teacher, he’s received UT’s top undergraduate teaching awards and is known for his engaging courses on Congress and American politics. A Michigan native and avid traveler, runner, and tennis player, he holds degrees from the University of Richmond, University of Rochester, and Stanford University.
Dr. Isabelle Vagnoux
Professor of American Civilization, Aix-Marseille Université, France
Professor of U.S. History and Politics at Aix-Marseille University. She specializes in U.S.–Latin America and U.S.–France relations and migration. She co-directs the Observatory of External Relations in the English-Speaking World and leads the Amidex-funded Democratic Alliances in the Indo-Pacific project.
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Velut
Professor, American Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle University of Paris, France and co-founder of the French Observatory of American Foreign Policy
Professor in American Studies at Sorbonne Nouvelle University of Paris and the co-founder of the French Observatory of American Foreign Policy (OPEXAM). He has a long record of academic and policy-oriented publications on US and EU trade policies and has coordinated several international research projects on trade governance.
Dr. Rachel Wellhausen
Associate Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor of Government at UT Austin specializing in international political economy. Her research examines globalization, policy flexibility, and political risk. She is Associate Editor of American Political Science Review and serves on the IPE Society’s steering committee.
Dr. Christopher Wlezien
Hogg Professor of Government, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin
Hogg Professor of Government at UT Austin, where he researches public opinion, budgetary policy, and electoral dynamics. He is known for developing the “thermostatic” model of policy responsiveness and for cross-national studies of voter preferences and polling accuracy. Author of Degrees of Democracy and The Timeline of Presidential Elections, his work spans over 40 countries and is supported by the National Science Foundation. A former journal editor and president of the Southern Political Science Association, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.