Political Science Department
Before joining Union in 2016, Strom was a professor of international relations and political science in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
At BU, he also served as the associate dean of the faculty, Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences. In that role, he was responsible for eight departments and 15 interdisciplinary centers, involving 190 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty and more than 3,600 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. Previously, he had served as the director of the university’s Latin American Studies Program.
Thacker received the College of Arts and Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence at BU. He has published two books, both with Cambridge University Press: “A Centripetal Theory of Democratic Governance” (with John Gerring) and “Big Business, the State, and Free Trade: Construction Coalitions in Mexico.”
In addition, he has published numerous articles and book chapters and presented at many professional conferences. His prestigious appointments include Visiting Fellow at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Visiting Scholar at MIT; Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard; Susan Louise Dyer Peace Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford; and Visiting Fulbright Researcher at Instituto Techonlógico Autónomo de México.
Thacker received his undergraduate degree in international relations from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and developed what he calls “a deep and abiding affection for and lifelong passion for the liberal arts.” He received master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
