"St. Mary's has always been a university that encourages
public service, so we have students who really have that as one of their goals."
Dr. Larry Hufford, Professor, Graduate International Relations

According to the Office of the Director General, Foreign Service Office, US Department of State, St. Mary's University has produced 21 Foreign Service Officers and three Civil Service Officers. In addition, 83 students have participated in internships abroad. While not all of these students have been from the International Relations Program, it is still a strong indicator of the dedication and empowerment that St. Mary's University students carry away with their education. For more details and personal stories from faculty, students and alumni, see our Gold & Blue magazine at www.stmarytx.edu/gold&blue

News

Spotlight on Dr. Michael J. Sullivan

We are pleased to announce the addition of Michael J. Sullivan as an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program of International Relations at St. Mary's University beginning Fall 2012.

Dr. Michael Sullivan is a political theorist who is primarily interested in the causes of international migration and settlement, immigration regulation and enforcement as a human security issues, the attribution of citizenship to new members by birth and naturalization, and the rights and obligations of membership in political communities. Dr. Sullivan is an immigrant to the United States from Canada, and has volunteered with immigrant communities in Waco (after school program) and Philadelphia (teaching English as a Second Language) as a gradaute student. Dr. Sullivan has designed a course in Research and Writing for the department. He has also taught as an adjunct instructor since January, 2011 with the IR department (World Religions & International Affairs) and the Political Science department (World Religions, as well as The Ethics of Immigration Policy).

Dr. Sullivan is currently at work editing his dissertation, "A Pathway to Citizenship through Contributions in Relationships" into a book manuscript. His project considers what current citizens and legal permanent residents ought to be able to ask of unauthorized and nonimmigrant long-term residents in exchange for a pathway to legal permanent residence and eventual citizenship. He studies the transnational social networks and past policy decisions that brought migrants from Mexico and Central America to the U.S., the source of political objections by existing citizens to their presence, and what citizens of a migrant receiving state ought to be able to ask of long-term resident immigrants in exchange for regularization. He proposes a framework for prioritizing claims to regularization by current long-term residents based on contributions to the community, relationships of guardianship and interdependence with a citizen family member, and early socialization. He has separate working papers dealing with humanitarian justifications for allowing families to remain together in a citzen-dependent's country of residence, and a response to objections based on national security and community safety concerns.

Dr. Sullivan's research efforts have been supported by the Center for Migration and Development. He has extensive experience working with students on research and writing as a Writing Fellow, and was awarded a Quin Morton Teaching Fellowship in the Writing Program at Princeton University in 2010. Dr. Sullivan completed his doctoral degree in Politics at Princeton University in September, 2011.