Faculty

Marvin Astrada has completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, and a JD at Rutgers University Law School. His graduate and legal studies and research have focused on law, foreign policy, international organization, strategic studies, culture, and international relations theory.

Presently, he is a Research Associate at the Federal Judicial Center, Washington, DC. He is responsible for the design and conduct of social scientific and legal qualitative/quantitative research projects pertaining to all facets of the administration of justice in the federal judiciary. Present projects include social scientific and legal research pertaining to mass incarceration and the efficacy of federal reentry/diversionary programs for offenders.

Previously, he served as Research Scientist with the Applied Research Center at Florida International University, where he was responsible for the FIUARC/U.S. Government Strategic Cultures Project. The project focused on developing a standard analytic framework to identify and assess the strategic culture of Latin American countries vis-à-vis U.S. foreign policy, and analyzed the regional impact of Islamic thought and Muslim identity in Latin America.

Dr. Astrada has taught introductory and advanced courses in politics, law, and international relations, has presented his research at professional conferences, and has published in the fields of law and international relations.

Seth Borenstein teaches journalism and society at New York University's Washington DC campus. He also is a national science writer for The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization, covering issues ranging from climate change to astronomy. He is the winner of numerous journalism awards, including the National Journalism Award for environment reporting in 2007 from the Scripps Foundation and the Outstanding Beat Reporting award from the Society of Environmental Journalists in 2008 and 2004. He was part of an AP Gulf of Mexico oil spill reporting team that won the 2010 George Polk Award for Environment Reporting and a special merit award as part of the 2011 Grantham environment reporting prizes. He was part of a team of finalists for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. A science and environmental journalist for more than 25 years, covering everything from hurricanes to space shuttle launches, Borenstein has also worked for Knight Ridder Newspapers' Washington Bureau, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. He is the co-author of three out-of-print books, two on hurricanes and one on popular science. He has flown in zero gravity and once tried out for Florida Marlins (unsuccessfully).

Recent stories can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/sethap

On Twitter: @borenbears

Skype: borenbears

Phone: 202-641-9454

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Ross Brater is an economist in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  He joined the Division shortly after he earned his Ph.D. in Economics from The Ohio State University, where he specialized in industrial organization and microeconomic theory.  He enjoys teaching courses on microeconomic theory, industrial organization, sports economics, and current issues.  While at Ohio State, he received the Economics Department's L. Edwin Smart Graduate Associate Teaching Award and its Departmental Citation for Excellence in Teaching.     
 
His current research interests include topics in theoretical industrial organization, with current focus on two-sided markets and consumer rewards programs.  He also holds an M.A. in Economics from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Ron Christie is Founder and CEO of Christie Strategies LLC, a full-service communications and issues management firm in Washington, D.C. Christie is also the author of three books. His most recent title, Blackwards: How Black Leadership is Returning America to the Days of Separate But Equal was published in September 2012. His two previous books were Acting White: The Birth and Death of a Racial Slur (2010, St. Martin’s Press) and Black in the White House (2006, Thomas Nelson/Nelson Current). Christie served as a Resident Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics for the Fall 2011 term at Harvard University. Christie presently teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the McCourt Graduate School of Public Policy and the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. In August 2015 he was named to the Board of Advisors for the inaugural Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service.

Mr. Christie is also a Co-Founder of NoLabels.org – a non-partisan group seeking real policy solutions in Washington, D.C. Along with former Gov. Jon Huntsman, Christie is a co-host of No Labels Radio heard each Saturday on Sirius XM POTUS Channel 124. He also is a Columnist at The Daily Beast.com.

Mr. Christie, a veteran senior advisor of both the White House and the Congress, brings years of government relations experience. Most recently, Christie served as Vice
President of Navigators LLC – a strategic consulting and communications firm. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Director of Global Government Affairs at Ruder Finn and Of Counsel at the DC law firm of Patton Boggs, LLP. From 2002 to 2004, he was Acting Director of USA Freedom Corps and special assistant to President George W. Bush. He began service at the White House in 2001 as deputy assistant to Vice President Cheney for domestic policy, advising the Vice President on policy initiatives in health care, budget, tax and other policy areas.

Prior to joining the Vice President's staff, he briefly served as counsel to U.S. Senator George Allen (R-VA). He also served as senior advisor to former House Budget Committee Chairman and current Ohio Governor John Kasich from 1992 - 1999.

As a frequent commentator on current political events, Christie served as a political commentator for BBC Worldwide Television for their global 2012 election night coverage. He reprised this role to cover the 2014 midterm election cycle. He has appeared as a political/legal analyst on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, On the Record with Greta Van Sustern, Real Time with Bill Maher, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Fox News Sunday, Hannity, The O'Reilly Factor, and The Tavis Smiley Show.

Active in international affairs, he was elected as a term member to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2001. While serving in the White House, Christie was asked by President Bush to lead an American delegation to an international conference on volunteerism and civic engagement hosted by then Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, England. Subsequent to the volunteerism summit, Christie worked with then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to devise an expanded call for civic engagement in Great Britain.

A native of Palo Alto, California, he received his B.A. from Haverford College and his J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for The Prevent Cancer Foundation and the American Conservative Union.

SAG-AFTRA eligible as a background actor, you can catch Christie in the 2015 seasons of House of Cards and VEEP. He was commissioned as a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels in 2011.

Justin Evans holds a PhD from the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, and an MFA in fiction from Otis College. He has previously taught humanities at Villlanova University and George Mason University. His primary research interest is the relationship between philosophy and literature in the twentieth century. He writes essays about social matters, literary criticism and fiction. He is working on a volume of fictions and essays, 'The Philosophers Bench.' The missing apostrophe in 'philosophers' is, he regrets, not a typo.

Alicia L. Gleason earned her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from George Mason University, where she was a teaching fellow. She writes short stories, flash fiction, and is at work on her first novel. Her fiction was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Shelley A. Marshall Fiction Contest, and has appeared in Cleaver Magazine and Oblong.
 
Alicia has taught writing and literature classes at George Washington University, and George Mason University. She finds that her work as a professional writer (or perhaps more accurately, as a professional reviser of her drafts) serves as a helpful model for students as they develop writing habits and techniques that acknowledge the power of revision. Alicia earned her BA from Colgate University and is TEFL certified.  

Dave Gottesman is the CountyStat Manager for Montgomery County, Maryland (pop. 1,004,709), in the Office of the County Executive. CountyStat is Montgomery County's performance management and data analytics team designed to drive accountability, transparency, and the strategic use of data to monitor and improve the performance, effectiveness, and efficiency of County services. Prior to joining Montgomery County, Dave served from 2008 to 2012 as the Director of Budget and Performance Management for the Town of North Hempstead, New York (pop. 230,000). He is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada and served on their Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Fiscal Policy from 2011 to 2017.

Dave holds an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a BA in Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Certified Public Manager designation from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s Institute for Regional Excellence. He is currently a Local Government Fellow with Results for America.

Jessica Gresko is a reporter for The Associated Press in Washington. Since joining the AP in 2005 in Miami she has reported from a cargo ship, a hurricane hunter plane and a space shuttle launch pad. She has covered stories including a mine collapse in Utah, a mass shooting in Alabama and an execution in Delaware. She has interviewed newsmakers from Donald Trump to Michelle Obama and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and twice worked as the state political editor during Florida's legislative session. Gresko moved to Washington in 2009 and now covers courts. She is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and holds a master’s degree in the study of law from Georgetown University Law Center.

Vicky Kiechel, AIA and LEED AP, is a practicing architect and native Washingtonian. She works for the Cadmus Group, Inc., an environmental consultancy, on the development and implementation of green building policy for clients in the public (federal, state, and local) and private sectors. Her clients have included the US Green Building Council, US EPA, the states of Wisconsin and Arkansas, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Vicky’s design work includes small-to-medium scale residential and institutional projects such as the Washington, DC offices of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Maury Public Elementary School Library for the DC Capitol Hill Libraries Project, a public-private partnership. Vicky teaches in the Global Environmental Politics Program at American University, where she was named Most Innovative Green Teacher of the Year in 2010. She holds degrees from Yale College; Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar; and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Marcos L. Martínez earned his MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from George Mason University, where he was a teaching fellow and received the Outstanding Graduate Student award.  His fiction, poetry, and non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Blade, RiverSedge, Whiskey Island, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, and the HIV +/- Here and Now Project.  A Lambda Literary Fellow, Marcos’ work explores the troubled relationships between humanity and nature; he is currently working on a novel and a companion collection of poetry.

Marcos has taught writing and literature at George Mason University; as a Sally Merten Fellow, he taught creative writing in Northern Virginia high schools and public libraries.  As co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Stillhouse Press, an independent non-profit publisher, he has trained BFA and MFA students in the art and business of the book publishing industry.  He finds that his experience as both a writer and an editor provides unique insights to guide students through the process of brainstorming, scaffolding, constructing, and remodeling their written works.  Marcos earned his BA in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.

Dr. McGarry is  a working professional who has enjoyed careers in both academia and for-profit and not-for-profit institutions.  She is currently a Senior Consultant to the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census where she is engaged in supporting the development and testing of the 2020 US Census.  In her capacity as a Senior Consultant, she identifies, monitors, and reports on the more than 5,000 technical requirements to ensure a reliable and comprehensive 2020 Census.  Reliability affects the proposed use of not only the internet for Census survey response but also the use of mobile devices and analysis and reporting.  Additionally, Dr. McGarry consults with the DC government on the institution and design of their enterprise architecture development.

In addition to her professional activities, she teaches at the George Washington University in the graduate programs.  Courses she teaches are Systems Development Life-cycle, Program Management, Telecommunication, and Technology and Society.

In her personal life, she races sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay and spends a lot of money on her 36’ C&C for cruising around the Bay. She also fosters Cocker Spaniels.

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Michael Ulrich became Director of NYU Washington, DC
after over eleven years at the University of Maryland.  For most of that time, he directed study abroad and taught several short term courses for premedical students in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Cape Town.  In the most recent national rankings, Maryland was #17 for study abroad participation among doctoral institutions, up from #43 when he began his oversight of the program.  NYU is #1 in this ranking.  Prior to his tenure at Maryland, Michael was on the biology faculty at Elon University where his duties included co-chairing the department, teaching biology and interdisciplinary courses and developing new study abroad programs.  He received a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Washington University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa with a BA in biology.  While in graduate school, Michael's first international experience was in El Salvador during their civil war volunteering at an orphanage and later in Jamaica performing similar service. 

In Washington DC, he mentors a student through Jan's Tutoring House and lives in Columbia Heights with his husband Paul, their AussieDoodle Boomer, and their elderly cat Bunny.

John Volpe received his Ph.D. degree in economics from New York University, where he was a teaching fellow.  He has held executive-level positions in the corporate, trade association, foundation, think-tank, consultancy, and academic arenas.  Dr. Volpe has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in finance and economics at New York University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and Catholic University, among other institutions.  He has published extensively, mainly in the area of public policy, made numerous presentations to academic institutions, businesses, associations, and corporate groups, and consulted for a number of government agencies (including the Departments of State and Labor, and the U.S. Agency for International Development), associations (including the Employment Policies Institute, and the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy), think tanks (including Stanford Research Institute, the National Planning Association, the International Trade and Investment Center, and the Center for International Private Enterprise), and domestic and international corporations (including TRW and Diageo).