Robert Ostergard

Robert L. Ostergard, Jr. joined the department in Fall 2006 from the State University of New York, Binghamton. He received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics in 1992 from the University of Massachusetts and his M.A. (1996) and PhD (1999) in Political Science from the State University of New York, Binghamton. He served as the Associate Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York, Binghamton from 2000-2006.

His research is focused predominantly in two areas of interest. The first area is on the relationship between intellectual property rights and development. The second area focuses on issues of national and international security in Africa, with an emphasis on the impact of epidemic diseases on state security. He currently serves as series co-editor of the Ashgate book series Global Health and has previously served as a consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), the Council on Foreign Relations, and UNAIDS. His most recent book is entitled HIV/AIDS and the Threat to National and International Security (Palgrave, 2007).

His current teaching responsibilities for the department include courses in comparative politics (Sub-Saharan Africa) and international relations (American Foreign Policy, International Conflict, Global Political Economy, World Politics). His current research examines the institutional origins of the varying responses by African states to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.