January 31, 2012
Dr. Scott Gartner joins School of International Affairs
The newest SIA faculty member, Dr. Scott Gartner, is a scholar of conflict mediation and empirical studies of conflict and war. “International affairs professionals must understand the latest evidence-based methods of evaluating the cost of war, nature of violence, and dynamics of civil unrest. I am pleased to bring this perspective to the classroom,” he said. 
His scholarship focuses on patterns of war and peace and the intersection of domestic and international policy. “The current events and names will change, but the underlying patterns continue,” he said. His most recent book is International Conflict Mediation: New Approaches and Findings (2009 with Jacob Bercovitch), and he has articles coming out this year on intelligence and national security, mediation in civil wars, and strategy in Afghanistan.
Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Gartner directed the International Relations Program at the University of California Davis. He is pleased to join the School of International Affairs because of its blending of theory and policy. “I like the idea of training and helping develop the next cohort of decision makers,” he said. Dr. Gartner was twice a finalist for a Teaching Award at the University of California Davis. “I put a premium on how well people think.”
Dr. Gartner is often invited to speak on Afghanistan strategy, mediation, and war, and has given presentations and briefings at universities in the U.S. and abroad as well as the Pentagon. The author of dozens of peer-reviewed articles, he has published in a wide variety of journals: International Affairs (e.g. International Studies Quarterly), Political Science (e.g. American Political Science Review), Sociology (e.g. the American Sociological Review), as well as history and communications. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and Sweden's Folke Bernaddotte Academy, which recently awarded him a grant to examine the factors that affect the effectiveness of mediation efforts in civil wars.
Dr. Gartner was named Honorary Advisor for the Lab on International Communication and Negotiation in the Department of Diplomacy at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan, in 2008. He is a co-winner of the Thomas Jefferson Prize, awarded by the Society for the History of the Federal Government and recipient of the Howard D. Lasswell Award for the best dissertation in a policy-related field.
Dr. Gartner holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Chicago. At Penn State he will teach U.S. National Security Policy, Theories of International Affairs, and Research Design. He reports that he is delighted to be the newest faculty member at the School of International Affairs.