Staff
ISS has a small full-time research staff that operates under the direction of a faculty member. The director is Jennifer Widner, Professor of Politics and International Affairs. The program also works with several short-term affiliates and Ph.D. candidates.
Jennifer Widner, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace & Justice and Innovations for Successful Societies
Before joining the Princeton faculty in 2004-5, she taught at Harvard and the University of Michigan. Her current research focuses on the political economy of institutional reform, government accountability, and service delivery. She also remains interested in constitution writing, constitutional design, and fair dealing—topics of earlier research. She is author of Building the Rule of Law (W. W. Norton), a study of courts and law in Africa, and she has published articles on a variety of topics in Democratization, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Development Studies, The William & Mary Law Review, Daedalus, the American Journal of International Law, and other publications. She is completing work on a book about making government work in challenging settings, drawing on experiences in Africa, Asia, and parts of Latin America. jwidner@princeton.edu
Laura Bacon, Associate Director, ISS
Before coming to ISS, Laura served as a White House Fellow. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. During her graduate studies, Laura worked for Liberia’s Ministry of Gender and Development and Women’s Legislative Caucus as a Cultural Bridge Fellow and technical advisor. Laura’s interest in West Africa derives from her Peace Corps Volunteer experience in Niger (2002-2005), where she helped launch a community-run grain bank and served as the national coordinator of the Young Girls’ Scholarship Program. Laura served as a Research Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, where she managed research projects and co-authored several works, including the National Leadership Index: A National Study of Confidence in Leadership and a chapter in Women and Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change. bacon@princeton.edu
Katherine Doyle, Story/Style Editor
Kathy Doyle holds a B.A. from The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and an M.A. in English from University College Cork, Ireland. She worked in business consulting and investment management before focusing her energy full time on editing and writing.
Jonathan Friedman, Research Specialist, ISS
Jonathan Friedman holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton, he majored in public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School. His undergraduate research focused on Sino-African relations and the consequences of economic growth in Africa on bilateral relations. He previously held summer positions with a development NGO in eastern Uganda; with All Africa Global Media in Dakar, Senegal; and with the U.N. Office of Disarmament Affairs in Lomé, Togo. Jonathan’s academic interests are in international development and African politics. yfriedma@princeton.edu
Jim Golder, Production Specialist, ISS
Jim Golder is a graduate of Rider University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. He joined Princeton in 1998 working in the Woodrow Wilson School Finance Office. Before that, he worked in the Woodrow Wilson School as the grants manager. As ISS production specialist, he is responsible for logistical planning and data management associated with the oral history program, as well as budget and finance for the program. jgolder@princeton.edu
Doug Hulette, Program Editor
Doug Hulette is a veteran of The Wall Street Journal copy desk, where he edited articles for the Asian and European editions as well as the U.S. publication. Besides newspapers, he also worked on wire services and websites for Dow Jones and other organizations. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University and a bachelor's in English.
Rachel Jackson, Research Specialist, ISS
Rachel Jackson has joined ISS on a nine-month appointment to carry out case study development. Before coming to ISS, Rachel worked as a reporter at the legal news website Main Justice in Washington, DC covering U.S. and international anti-corruption enforcement. She holds a bachelor's degree in politics with a certificate in African Studies from Princeton. She conducted independent research in Botswana and Somaliland on the role of traditional leaders in national politics. Her academic interests are in African politics, with a particular emphasis on post-conflict governance-building. rgjackso@princeton.edu
Maureen Killeen, Program Manager of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice
Maureen Killeen holds a master's in diplomacy and international relations from Seton Hall University, where she worked as an academic adviser and program coordinator before beginning her Princeton career in 2004. She worked in the Office of the Registrar and the Program in American Studies before joining the Bobst Center. mkilleen@princeton.edu
Gabriel Kuris, Senior Research Specialist, ISS
Gabriel Kuris has worked to promote human rights and legal reforms in the Philippines, Cambodia, and the Solomon Islands. In addition, he has practiced corporate law in London and New York and served in congressional and executive offices of the US government. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in creative writing and his publications include stories in the New Yorker, the Harvard Review, and Next American City. gkuris@princeton.edu
Rushda Majeed, Senior Research Specialist, ISS
Rushda Majeed came to ISS from her position as program director of the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow program at the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Rushda also reported on women's rights in Syria, served on a team specializing in international conflict resolution and completed a project assessing community-based law and development initiatives in Southern Zambia. She has a master's from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and a bachelor's in computer science from Eastern Kentucky University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of culture, religion and politics . rmajeed@princeton.edu
Michael Scharff, Senior Research Specialist, ISS
Michael Scharff holds a bachelor's degree in politics from Princeton. Previously he worked in Cambodia, where he researched the contributions of faith-inspired organizations to the country's development for the World Faiths Development Dialogue, an organization based at Georgetown University. He also worked in Uganda at the International Rescue Committee, a global relief and development agency, and interned at the White House. His academic interests are in global development, with a particular emphasis on U.S.-Africa relations. mscharff@princeton.edu
Sarah Torian, Communications Specialist and Editor
Sarah Torian has been involved in issues of civil rights and social and economic justice professionally for the past fifteen years. For six years, she served as communications coordinator at the Southern Regional Council, writing and editing articles for the organization’s quarterly journal Southern Changes. Since 2002, she has worked with a number of nonprofits and foundations as the principal of Torian+Whitley Consulting. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has been a client throughout that time and Sarah has assisted the Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site and Center for Community and Economic Opportunity in the qualitative evaluation, documentation, and communication of their programs, initiatives and results. Sarah earned a BA in History from the University of Virginia and a MA in the interdisciplinary study of the American South at the University of Mississippi.
