Julie Mertus, JD

Julie Mertus is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA program in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at American University. Professor Mertus has twenty years of experience working for a wide range of nongovernmental and governmental human rights organizations. Her prior appointments include: Senior Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace; Human Rights Fellow, Harvard Law School; Writing Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Fulbright Fellow (Romania 1995; Denmark 2006), and Counsel, Human Rights Watch. Her book Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2004) was named "human rights book of the year" by the American Political Science Association Human Rights Section. Her other books include: Human Rights and Conflict (United States Institute of Peace, 2006)(editor, with Jeffrey Helsing);The United Nations and Human Rights (Routledge, 2005); Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War (U. Cal. Press 1999), and The Suitcase: Refugees' Voices from Bosnia and Croatia (U. Cal. Press, 1999). Professor Mertus has won several awards for her innovative curriculum design and teaching.  In 2005, Professor Mertus was named the School of International Service Scholar/Teacher of the Year.