United States Studies Centre Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Professor Geoffrey Garrett
Academics
Associate Professor L. Carson - Academic Program Director
Professor Margaret Levi
Professor Bruce McKern - Director of Executive Program on US Business Leadership
Associate Professor Brendon O'Connor
General
Clark Bailey - Operations Manager
Susan Beale - Web & Communications Officer
Nina Fudala - Media Manager
Dr Sean Gallagher - Director of Programs & Operations
Jacquie Kufner - Executive Assistant to the CEO
Todd St Vrain - Marketing & Student Recruitment Manager
Andrés Viganó - Finance Manager
Melanie Young - Academic Support Officer
Professor Geoffrey Garrett
Chief Executive Officer
T: +61 2 9351 7249
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Dr Geoffrey Garrett is founding CEO of the United States Studies Centre and Professor of Political Science at the University of Sydney. He was previously President of the Pacific Council on International Policy, where he remains a Senior Fellow, and Professor of International Relations, Business Administration, Communication and Law at the University of Southern California.
Garrett has written more than thirty opinion articles on the 2008 US presidential election, the American financial crisis, and their impact on Australia for newspapers including the Australian, Australian Financial Review, Courier Mail, Herald Sun and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a frequent commentator on the US and what it means for Australia on programs including ABC Radio’s PM and Sky TV News’ Agenda. Garrett’s essays and opinion pieces have also appeared in newspapers and magazines the US, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Among the most widely cited political scientist of his generation, Garrett is an expert on American politics and foreign policy, the causes and consequences of globalization, and the impact of China’s rise on the US and the rest of the world. He is author of Partisan Politics in the Global Economy and editor of The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy, both published by Cambridge University Press.
Garrett served as founding Dean and Vice Provost of the UCLA International Institute. He has held academic appointments at Oxford, Stanford and Yale universities and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
A dual citizen of Australia and the US, Garrett was born and raised in Canberra and holds a BA (Hons) from the Australian National University. He earned his MA and PhD at Duke University in North Carolina, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Click here for Professor Garrett’s full CV
Associate Professor L. Carson
Academic Program Director
T: +61 2 9351 3089
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Carson is the founding Academic Program Director of the Centre. She is an Associate Professor in applied politics, seconded from the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. She is responsible for the design and implementation of the Master of US Studies, the Master of Letters in US Studies, undergraduate units of study, the research program, the research seminar series, scholarships, internships and the Australian academic network.
Carson was a local government representative of Lismore City Council in eastern Australia from 1991 to 1995. During that time she developed a particular interest in participatory techniques that can capture voices missing from typical community consultation processes. She is now experienced with the design and coordination of public deliberation methods that are highly representative of the entire population.
Carson is the author, with Brian Martin, of Random Selection in Politics and her substantive area of research is deliberative, inclusive democracy - both in theory and in practice. Her major research projects are both local and international; currently they include (a) Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament (an ARC-Linkage project with new Democracy) and (b) an international collaboration with International Association for Public Participation funded by Kettering Foundation (USA) which is examining public participation across the world.
She teaches a unit of study, Dialogue & Public Engagement, simultaneously with Fielding Graduate University in the US, as well as Fundamentals of US Studies. She maintains an active democracy website where some of her many publications can be found.
Professor Margaret Levi
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A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Margaret Levi will take up her chair at the US Studies Centre in 2009, jointly with her position Jere L. Bacharach Professor of International Studies and Director of the Comparative and Historical Analysis of Organizations and States Center at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Levi is past President of the American Political Science Association, current Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, General Editor of the Annual Review of Political Science, and General Editor of the Cambridge University Press book series Studies in Comparative Politics.
Levi is the author and editor of a dozen books and has written countless articles and chapters. Her books include Analytic Narratives (Princeton UP), Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism (Cambridge UP), and Of Rule and Revenue (U of California Press).
Levi holds a PhD for Harvard University and a BA from Bryn Mawr College.
Click here for Professor Levi’s full CV
Professor Bruce McKern
Director of Executive Program on US Business Leadership
T: +61 2 9036 7100
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Bruce joined the University of Sydney on a half-time basis as a Professor of International Business. His primary role is in the United States Studies Centre, as Director of the US Business Leadership Program. He will also assist the Faculty of Economics and Business in the development of the Executive MBA Program.
Bruce was the Director of the Stanford Sloan Master's Program in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business for six years. He taught International Business, Global Context of Management and the Sloan Leadership Seminar. He continues to hold an appointment as a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he is undertaking a research project on emerging multinationals.
Bruce’s research interests focus on the strategies of international corporations. His early work was concerned with explaining foreign investment and industrial structure in the global minerals industry. As Professor of International Business and President of the Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, he initiated research programs on the organisation and management of the multinational enterprise. Several of these projects, including his research on the sharing of responsibilities between the corporate centre and strategic business units, were published in his book Managing the Global Network Corporation (Routledge, 2003).
Bruce is the author or editor of eight books, including Transnational Corporations in the Exploitation of Natural Resources (United Nations and Routledge, 1993). He has published in academic and professional journals on multinational enterprise, industrial development, and international business, and is the author of a number of recent case studies in the field of international business, distributed by the Harvard Business School and Stanford University.
Bruce was Founding Professor of Management and first Director of Macquarie University's Graduate School of Management in Sydney, President of the Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, from 1993 to 1996 and Dean of the Monash-Mt Eliza Business School, Melbourne from 1996 to 2001.
Bruce has served on a number of public bodies, including the board of the NSW State Rail Authority, the Masters' External Academic Committee of the Securities Institute of Australia, and the Academic Council of the Prague International Business School. He was a member of the Council of the US-Korea Institute, the Australian Government’s National Multicultural Advisory Council and the Ministerial Inquiry into Postgraduate Education in the Australian Defence Force. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Management International Review. He is also an angel investor in several start-up firms in Silicon Valley.
Associate Professor Brendon O'Connor
Associate Professor of US Politics
Brendon joins the United States Studies Centre in 2009 as Associate Professor in American Politics. He was previously with the School of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University.
Brendon was the Australian Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC in 2008 and in 2006 he was a Fulbright Fellow at Georgetown University. He is the editor of seven books on anti-Americanism and has also published articles and books on American welfare policy, presidential politics, US foreign policy, and Australian-American relations. He has taught courses on American domestic politics and foreign affairs, and supervised theses on a variety of topics such as anti-Americanism, neoconservatism, the Iraq War and presidential politics.
Read Brendon's review of Andrew Bacevich's book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
Clark Bailey
Operations Manager
T: +61 2 9036 5085
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Clark's diverse background ranges from finance, sales, IT and design. Previous to his appointment at USSC, he was the Operations Manager for a leading global design consultancy. The company specialised in developing workplace strategies to help clients use space more productively, to enhance organisational performance, foster innovation and to develop solutions that are flexible over time.
Clark's role involved managing the operations of HR, finance, marketing, administration and was responsible for the company’s procurement and management of their events division.
Susan Beale
Web & Communications Officer
T: +61 2 9036 5087
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Before joining the US Studies Centre, Susan was responsible for the development and maintenance of the website of a government organisation. She managed a team producing communications materials for programs delivered in Australia and internationally. Susan has completed a Graduate Diploma of Communications and a Bachelor of Science.
Nina Fudala
Media Manager
T: +61 409 321 918
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Nina Fudala is a media and public relations professional, drawing on vast experience in mainstream journalism, senior roles in media management, international relations, public diplomacy and media training.
Nina is a former Director of the International Media Centre, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Sydney) 1998-2001 and was a journalist, producer and senior executive with ABC News and Current Affairs from 1975-1997. She has had her own consultancy for the past seven years.
Nina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tasmania and a Master’s degree from the College of Communication, Boston University, USA.
Dr Sean Gallagher
Director of Programs & Operations
T: +61 2 9351 4601
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Sean's diverse career includes roles in science, government, public affairs, state and federal politics, including as science and biotechnology adviser to the Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Stott Despoja.
In addition to being a director on the boards of the Australian Synchrotron, he has board and committee commitments with the US Studies Centre. Sean is also on the board of the youth support organisation Twenty10. He was the first Chairman of the NSW Synchrotron Consortium of 13 universities, a Foundation Investor to the Australian Synchrotron.
Sean completed his chemistry PhD in fullerenes spectroscopy at the University of Sydney in 1996 and was awarded the RACI Cornforth medal. He has performed research on proteins at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab in California. Sean has published nearly 20 papers and been successful in attracting research funding from the ARC.
Jacquie Kufner
Executive Assistant to the CEO
T: +61 2 9351 7852
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Jacquie returned to Sydney ten years ago, after living in New Caledonia and France for several years. She worked in industries such as shipping and import/export – where she perfected her bilingual skills.
Since her return, Jacquie has held positions with companies such as The International Committee of the Red Cross, Australian Aerospace – ARH Tiger Project and United Group Infrastructure.
Todd St Vrain
Marketing Manager
T: +61 2 9351 7815
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Todd is responsible for the promotion of the Centre's activities and recruitment of students into the postgraduate program.
Prior to joining the US Studies Centre, Todd worked at the International Office, promoting the University of Sydney throughout Asia and Latin America. He has a background in teaching and working for non-profits.
A native of St Louis, Missouri, Todd holds a BA in International Relations from American University, Washington DC, and a MA in International Education from Columbia University, New York City. He has called the US, Jamaica, Italy, Brazil and Australia home.
Andrés Viganó
Finance Manager
T: +61 2 9351 7858
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Andrés was born and lived in Córdoba, a city located in the geographical centre of Argentina, where he obtained his degree as a Public Accountant from the National University of Córdoba in 2002.
Andrés developed his career in management accounting with SME companies in Argentina, working in the manufacturing, retail and services sectors. In 2005, he migrated to Australia, a place he had learnt to love when he spent a year as a Rotary Exchange Student in 1995.
In Australia, Andrés was the accountant of a not-for-profit association for two and a half years. He is currently studying to become a CPA accountant.
Melanie Young
Academic Support Officer
T: +61 2 9036 5086
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Melanie provides administrative support to the Academic Program Director, academics and students of the USSC.
Melanie's career to date incorporates both administration and marketing roles. She recently returned to Sydney after living in outback NSW for a number of years where she worked primarily in administration. Prior to this Melanie worked in a number of marketing roles at Telstra including Community Relations Manager, Product Manager and Marketing Co-ordinator.
Melanie has completed both a Marketing Certificate and a Public Relations Certificate at TAFE NSW and most recently has completed an Undergraduate Business Certificate majoring in Marketing through the University of Southern Queensland.