Louise Richardson

Louise Richardson (born 1958 in Ireland, affected by the Northern Ireland conflict) is a political scientist at Harvard University and executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is an accepted adept at security policy.

Richardson received a bachelor's degree in history from Trinity College, Dublin. She earned master's degrees in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles and Harvard and in history from Trinity College, Dublin, and a doctoral degree in government from Harvard University. From 1989 to 2001, she was assistant professor and then associate professor of government at Harvard, specializing in international security. For eight years, Richardson was head tutor (director of undergraduate studies) of the Harvard government department. She served in numerous other administrative capacities at Harvard University, including the Faculty Council and various committees concerning such issues as undergraduate education, the status of women, and human rights. In July 2001, Richardson was appointed executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Richardson's academic focus has been on international security with an emphasis on terrorist movements. For several years, she taught Harvard's large undergraduate lecture course, Terrorist Movements in International Relations. For this, she won the Levenson Prize, awarded by the undergraduate student body to the best teachers at the University. This class, along with a number of graduate courses on terrorist movements and European terrorism, were for many years the only ones offered on the subject at Harvard.Louise Richardson is the author of "What terrorists want".

On 3 June 2008, it was announced that she had been appointed Principal of the University of St. Andrews, succeeding Brian Lang with effect from January 2009.

External links

* [http://www.radcliffe.edu/about/leaders_richardson.aspx Biography at Radcliffe]