My CV (pdf) is available here. KFG CV March 2016

I graduated with a BA and honors from Ohio Wesleyan University in the International Studies Program. I completed my dissertation: Transnational Networks and the Promotion of Conservationist Norms in Developing Countries at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the Department of Political Science.

My dissertation examined the role that epistemic communities, or networks of scientists sharing an epistemology and rationale for action, play in influencing environmental governance in developing countries.  I tested the impact of market liberalism on the way in which epistemic communities frame their arguments to policymakers and environmental managers.  My field research was funded by the NSF Division of Social and Economic Sciences, and carried out in Jamaica, Mexico and Egypt.  In these three countries, I studied biodiversity management projects carried out pursuant to the Convention on Biological Diversity. My research was carried out using qualitative research methods, developed in part at the 2006 Consortium of Qualitative Research Methods in Tempe, AZ.    In 2012, my dissertation won the Virginia M Walsh award for best dissertation in science, technology, and environmental politics.

I have presented papers based on my research at interdisciplinary conferences and been published in an edited volume examining environmental vulnerability in the Caribbean and in the November 2013 issue of Global Environmental Politics.  Most recently, at the 2014 Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, I presented “Nature’s Meanings: A Critical Approach to Effective Regime Design,” a working paper exploring how changing norms affect how different actors interpret regime effectiveness. In 2015, I hope to attend the ISA Annual Conference to present a paper on biodiversity governance in the Yucatán Peninsula.

This year, I am offering Introduction to International Relations, International Environmental Politics, Protest Music in Comparative Perspective, Globalization, and a seminar on Global Environmental Justice.  I have also offered a course on Gender in International Relations.  In addition to environmental policy and politics, my research and teaching interests include: Comparative Political Economy, Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle Eastern Politics.  Due to my interests, my research and classes at Middlebury College can be counted towards majors in Political Science, International Studies, Environmental Studies, and International Political Economy.