NSA department congratulates two professors, Dr. Naazneen Barma and Dr. Zachary Shore, who have been tenured and promoted. 

Dr. Barma’s is an outstanding professor with wide-ranging scholarship in the fields of post-conflict peace building and democratic governance. Her work has been widely praised for its theoretical insights, empirical rigor, and potential to inform policy debates. Dr. Barma’s book The Peacebuilding Puzzle is a singular contribution that challenges international institutions to think differently about post-conflict interventions and governance in fragile states. NSA Chair, Dr. Mohammed Hafez, had this to say about her cumulative contributions: “Dr. Barma has set a high bar for future tenure candidates in the NSA department, and she is the new gold standard by which their measure will be assayed.” 

Prof. Shore’s analysis of foreign policy decision making in times of peace and war has been recognized as groundbreaking and analytically innovative. His theory of pattern breaks, based on the melding of cognitive psychology with historical analysis, is simply brilliant and has been recognized as such by historians, political scientists, and even military leaders like Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. He shows that to really understand one's rival, do not just look for patterns in foreign policy behavior, but observe pattern breaks during times of crises. Departure from normal operating procedures can tell us a lot about what our rivals value the most. His book is as an important corrective to the conventional wisdom on how to study foreign policy decision making.