Professor Laurie A. Brand is the current director or the University of Southern California School of International Relations

University of Southern California School of International Relations

The University of Southern California School of International Relations is the 3rd oldest school of international relations in the world...

. Professor Brand specializes in the international relations of the Middle East, including political economy of the region and inter-Arab relations. She received her B.S. in French from Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, her M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and her Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from the same institution. She served as president of Middle East Studies Association of North America

Middle East Studies Association of North America

Middle East Studies Association of North America is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples...

in 2004.http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/Pres%20Addresses/Brand.htm

External links

• Professor Brand's USC Faculty Profile