Carla Freeman, Ph.D. is Associate Research Professor at SAIS in the China Studies program. She began teaching at SAIS in 2007 on the international relations of Asia and on China’s environmental governance and sustainable development. She has written widely on China’s foreign policy toward its territorial neighbors, its security concerns, and its environmental policies. Her professional experience has also included consulting, political risk analysis, and work on civil society and community development. She received her BA in History at Yale University and her MA and Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Christine Kunkel has more than ten years experience in higher education program administration. She currently serves as the Program Administrator for the Foreign Policy Institute and the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she is responsible for grant implementation and financial administration of both programs. She is also responsible for outreach, as well as conference and program development and coordination. Prior to joining SAIS, Ms. Kunkel served as a coordinator of the Cornell University’s Cornell in Washington Program. Ms. Kunkel holds a BA in Government and Politics with a scholar’s certificate in International Relations from the University of Maryland.
Director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations; and Executive Director of the American Consortium on EU Studies (ACES)
Dr. Hamilton most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and held various other State Department posts. Previous to government service, he was Senior Associate on European-American relations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of Beyond Bonn: America and the Berlin Republic (1994), After the Revolution (1990), and numerous book and periodical articles.
Dr. Mattar is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, American University, Washington College of Law, and Johns Hopkins University Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where he teaches various courses on Comparative and International law. Dr. Mattar's extensive experience and knowledge in the field of international law makes him an authority on the legal and legislative aspects associated with trafficking in persons, especially women and children. Dr. Mattar has written at length on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the 2000 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.
Dr. Mattar received his title Doctor of Juridical Sciences in 1986, and Master of Law with Distinction in 1983 from Tulane University School of Law.
Dr. Starr is a former president of Oberlin College and founding director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. Dr. Starr has written or edited 18 books and more than 130 articles on Russian and Eurasian affairs. His current activities include planning work for a new institution of higher education to be established by the Aga Khan in Tajikistan.
Dr. Starr received his Ph.D. in history from Princeton University.
Kurt Volker most recently served as U.S. ambassador to NATO; previously was principal deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State; former director for NATO and West European Affairs at the National Security Council; was deputy chief of staff for NATO's Office of the Secretary General; former legislative fellow in the office of Senator John McCain; as U.S. Foreign Service officer, served in Brussels, Budapest, London and Washington, D.C.; was intelligence analyst for Northern Europe with the Central Intelligence Agency; M.A., international relations, The George Washington University