Part-time and Adjunct Faculty

For biographies of part-time and adjunct faculty members, click the first letter of the faculty member's last name.

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Thomas Parker: Lecturer
Dr. Thomas Parker has worked in national security positions for the U.S. government for more than 25 years. He is currently in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he has worked on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. He has also served in the Executive Office of the President, the State Department's Policy Planning Office, the Intelligence Community and the Department of Commerce. He was Foreign Affairs and Defense Advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman of the Armed Services Committee. Before joining the U.S. government, Dr. Parker taught at the University of Paris. Dr. Parker has published several books, including one on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and numerous articles, including several on U.S. policy towards Iran, Iraq, and China. He has also published articles on the presidencies of George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. Students are encouraged to contact him to ask further questions about the course at thomas.parker@osd.mil.

Samantha Parkes: Lecturer
Samantha Parkes earned her bachelors degree in Creative Writing and Literature from Graceland University. She earned a Masters from the University of Kansas in Composition where she taught composition and literature courses for three years. After completing her studies at KU, she taught English conversation, American Culture and British Culture as a Peace Corps Volunteer at Cahul State University in the Republic of Moldova. Now back in the US, she is persuing a MA: TESOL at American University where she teaches International Graduate Student Academic Writing. She is looking forward to graduating in December and devoting even more time to teaching her wonderful international students.

Gonzalo Sebastian Paz: Lecturer
Gonzalo Paz holds a J.D. and MA in International Relations (National University of Crdoba). He has taught at National Crdoba University, University of Salvador (Buenos Aires) and National University of La Plata. Paz was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, OAS Fellowship, and Korea Foundation Fellowship, among others. Professor Paz has been consultant of the Inter-American Development Bank. He may be contacted at gonpaz@gwu.edu.

Jose Perales: Lecturer

Rubén M. Perina
Dr. Rubén M. Perina currently directs the Program of Support for Legislative Institutions, in the Department of Modernization of the State at the Organization of American States (OAS). Between 1994 and 2004, at the OAS, he was the Coordinator of Strategic Programs in the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy and the head of its Demining Program (1994-2000). He has been Chief of OAS Electoral Observation Missions in the Dominican Republic (2006), Venezuela (2005 and 2000), Guatemala (1996), Colombia (1994), Paraguay (1991-1993), and was a Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the OAS between 1990 and -1994. He has taught a course on the Inter-American System, as an Adjunct Professor, at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Dr. Perina has written and published on the role of the OAS in the promotion of democracy, the role of legislatures in democratic and integration processes in the Mercosur countries; on leadership and "governability," the separation of powers and "governability," electoral systems, the role of political culture in the consolidation of democracy, and on the military and politics in Argentina. He holds a Ph. D. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania (1981); is a native of Argentina and resides in Washington D.C. since 1980. Mr. Perina can be reached at RPerina@oas.org

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Eric Pierce: Lecturer
Eric Pierce is a Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) where he works on a variety of issues related to U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy. Prior to joining CNAS, he served as Defense and Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), a member of the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees. In the Senate, his primary areas of concentration included the war on terrorism, military personnel matters, strategic issues, and emerging threats. Previously, Mr. Pierce was a U.S. Defense Department Fellow serving on the National Security Council as a Director of Transnational Threats, at the Department of Defense in the Office of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, and for the Department of the Navy in the Office of Program Appraisal. In 2000, he was awarded the Department of Defense Award for Outstanding Achievement. Mr. Pierce is a member of the D.C. Chapter of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs, and a member of the Congressional Advisory Committee of the Truman National Security Project. He holds a B.A. in history from Louisiana State University, and as a college student served in the AmeriCorps pilot program. Additionally, he holds a M.I.P.P., with a focus on the Middle East, from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.

Anita Plotinsky: Professorial Lecturer
Anita Plotinsky brings to the class more than 20 years' experience in the nonprofit sector. She began her career as an historian of arts organizations and development director. She was affiliated for many years with the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, where she developed academic programs and taught courses in nonprofit management and philanthropic studies. Currently a consultant to nonprofits in Washington, DC, she has served as executive director of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) and director of the Foundation Center-Washington, DC. She can be reached at Anita@AnitaPlotinsky.com.

Hugh Sheridan (Sher) Plunkett: Professorial Lecturer
Dr. Hugh Sheridan (Sher) Plunkett is an applied anthropologist, retired after 28 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He served in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Peru as well as AID/Washington, and has undertaken short assignments in a number of other countries, as well. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, with a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Previously, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in social anthropology, applied anthropology, and South Asian studies. His research interests include social change in complex societies, vertical sociocultural linkages, organizational analysis, and development delivery systems.

William Pope: Lecturer

Diego Portieles: Lecturer
He may be contacted at 13diegojp@comcast.net

Bruce Powers: Professorial Lecturer
Bruce Powers has taught at GWU since 1993. He also teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey CA and at the Naval War College in Newport RI. Professor Powers retired from the Pentagon in 2001, where he had served the Chief of Naval Operations in aviation and in analysis as a civilian Senior Executive for 16 years. Prior to that, he worked for Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger for 3 years. Earlier, he worked at three DoD think tanks: the Institute for Defense Analysis, the RAND Corporation, and the Center for Naval Analyses. At CNA, he served on five year-long assignments with operating forces, including 3 overseas.

At GWU, Mr. Powers teaches defense analysis courses. They take a case study approach to impart techniques and tools of analysis, stressing selection of measures of effectiveness, measuring costs, data identification and interpretation, succinct expression of analytical results, and focus on decisionmakers' needs. Mr. Powers can be reached at bfpowers@nps.edu.

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