Faculty

Karen K. Petersen
Associate Professor

Education | Research | Teaching | Work Address | Grants and Fellowships | Webpage | Email

Education

• Ph.D., Political Science, Vanderbilt University, August 2004.
• M.A., Political Science, Vanderbilt University, August 2002.
• B.S., Magna Cum Laude, International Relations, Middle Tennessee State University, December 1998.

Research

Publications

• Prospects for Political Stability in a Democratic Iraq: A Study of the Clusters of Conflict (with Stephen R. Saunders). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen (forthcoming, 2009).
• "Revisiting Downs's Issue-Attention Cycle: International Terrorism and U.S. Public Opinion." Journal of Strategic Security (forthcoming, 2009).
• "Multiparty Disputes and the Probability of War, 1816-1992." (with John Vasquez, and Yijia Wang). Reprinted in The Causes of International Conflict: Data, Methods and Theory. Glenn Palmer, ed. London: Routledge (2008).
• "There is more to the Story than 'Us-Versus-Them': Expanding the Study of Interstate Conflict and Regime Type beyond a Dichotomy." Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy Vol. 14, Issue 1 (2008).
• "Multiparty Disputes and the Probability of War, 1816-1992."; (first author, with John Vasquez, and Yijia Wang). Conflict Management and Peace Science 21(2): 85-100 (Summer 2004).
• "A Research Note: Re-examining Transnational Ethnic Alliances and Foreign Policy Behavior."; International Interactions, 30:1, 25-42 (Winter 2004).
• "Neutrality, Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the Fourth Pillar of the European Union."; International Affairs Forum (15 August 2004).

for more information on research, including conference presentations click here

Teaching

Teaching Experience

• Assistant Professor: Middle Tennessee State University, 2005-
• Senior Lecturer: Vanderbilt University, 2004-2005. (Full-time faculty position)
• Graduate Instructor: Vanderbilt University, 2002-2004.

Current Courses

• PS 1010 : Foundations of Government
• PS 2130 : Model UN
• PS 3220 : International and Comparative Politics
• PS 4210 International Conflict
• PS 4260 : The Political Status of Women in the World

Grants and Fellowships

Research Grants

• Faculty Research and Creative Projects Grant. Middle Tennessee State University; 2008.
• Faculty Research and Creative Projects Grant. Middle Tennessee State University; 2007.
• Middle East Center (Dept. of Education Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages) travel grant, Middle Tennessee State University; Spring 2007.
• Faculty Research and Creative Projects Grant. Middle Tennessee State University; 2006.

Other Grants and Funding

• International Education Grant, CIEE workshop, May 2009.
• Faculty Development Grant, CIEE workshop, May 2009.
• Curriculum Integration Grant. Revise general education study abroad course to include gender focus. President's Commission on the Status of Women. Middle Tennessee State University; Summer 2007.
• Workshop Grant. International Studies Association; 2004. Co-proposed with Don Hancock.
• Dissertation Writing Grants, Vanderbilt University; 2002, 2003.
• Research Grants, Vanderbilt University; 2000, 2001.

Training Grants

• Journeys in World Politics, Funded workshop participant, University of Iowa, October 2004.
• Women In International Security Graduate Student Summer Symposium. Funded participant, Georgetown University; Washington, D.C.; June 2002.
• Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. GIS Training Workshop. Funded participant, Florida International University; Miami, FL; March 2001.

Fellowships

• Faculty Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies; 2006-2007.
• Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University; 1999-2004.

Work Address

Middle Tennessee State University
Department of Political Science
1301 East Main Street
P.O. Box 29
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
office: 615.494.8662 fax: 615.898.5460