This fall, the Kroc Institute welcomed two new faculty members who bring diverse experience in gender and peace studies and international political economy, policy and armed conflict. Ashley Bohrer and Rachel Sweet are among five new faculty members appointed in fall 2019 by the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
"The hiring of Ashley Bohrer and Rachel Sweet is in line with the Kroc Institute’s five-year strategic plan," said Asher Kaufman, the John M. Regan, Jr., Director of the Kroc Institute. "Both add significant strength to the Institute’s educational programs and research profile. Ashley’s research on intersectionality, oppression and exploitation highlights our commitment to integrating and mainstreaming gender, class and race within the field of peace studies, and Rachel’s focus on armed conflict, governance and state capacity in fragile environments, and her emphasis on the policy implications of her work, fills an important gap for the Institute."
Bohrer is assistant professor of gender and peace studies. She is also a concurrent faculty member in Notre Dame’s Gender Studies Program.
Bohrer, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from DePaul University, studies complex patterns of oppression based on race, gender, sexuality and class, focusing on the intersections of these varieties of injustice. She is the author of "Marxism and Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality under Contemporary Capitalism." Bohrer has studied and taught around the world, including in France, Germany, Lebanon, China, South Africa and Sweden. During the fall 2019 semester, she is teaching the peace studies senior seminar for undergraduates.
Sweet, assistant professor of global affairs, also joins the Kroc Institute as a core faculty member. She also is a concurrent faculty member in the Department of Political Science.
Sweet’s research focuses on armed conflict, governance and state capacity in fragile environments, and the methodology and data of studying civil wars and armed violence. She has conducted extensive field research in east and central Africa. An Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies at Harvard University, she holds a doctorate in political science from Northwestern University.
Sweet bridges academic rigor with practical engagement to improve conflict policy. She has worked with the United Nations Office of the Secretary General-Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes, with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, and as a lead conflict investigator with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She also has been invited to present research findings to policymakers from the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations and various U.S. intelligence agencies.
During the fall 2019 semester, Sweet is teaching a course on contemporary civil wars.
Daniel Fahey also joined the Kroc Institute as a Visiting Associate Professor of the Practice. While at Notre Dame, Fahey is contributing expertise in policy studies and peace processes and collaborating with researchers on the Peace Accords Matrix. He is also working on a book manuscript about war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
About the Kroc Institute: The University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, is one of the world's leading centers for the study of the causes of violent conflict and strategies for sustainable peace.
Originally published by at conductorshare.nd.edu on Oct. 3.