Implementing WPS: What to Know and How to Do It

Shea Garrison, PhD

Consultant, International Affairs and Foreign Policy
Affiliated Faculty and Policy Fellow, Schar School of Policy and Government,
George Mason University

Shea Garrison, PhD is an international affairs and foreign policy consultant in Washington, D.C. Most recently, as professor and subject matter expert, Dr. Garrison created and wrote the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) curriculum for the Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) of the Department of Defense (DoD). Dr. Garrison possesses an active U.S. security clearance. She is also Affiliated Faculty and Policy Fellow at George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government. Her career has focused on international development, foreign policy and aid, women's empowerment, and human rights.

Dr. Garrison holds a Ph.D. and M.S. from Tulane University, where she was Adjunct Lecturer in the International Development Studies Program in 2015. In 2014, she was Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Gulf Studies at the American University of Kuwait, studying the relationship between development sustainability and the Kuwaiti female labor market (in context of declining oil revenue in Gulf Cooperation Council countries). This research was funded by the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science and chosen for public presentation at the Gulf Studies Symposium 2015.

As a policy expert and strategist, Dr. Garrison provides analysis and recommendations to senior government and private sector officials. Former VP of International Affairs at a DC-based public policy organization, she is highly experienced in meeting with cabinet secretaries, senior executive branch officials and congressional leadership. She has extensive experience in writing formal testimony, white papers, and academic articles. Dr. Garrison regularly publishes Op-eds in outlets such as National Review, The Washington Times, Daily Caller, the Hill, Washington Examiner, and the Federalist. She is a frequent guest on TV news and radio and presents to domestic venues such as Wilson Center for International Scholars, Foreign Services Institute, U.S. Department of State, the Heritage Foundation; she presents internationally to venues such as the Budapest Demographic Summit III and the Gulf Studies Symposium.

As an international development professional, Dr. Garrison has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America delivering capacity building and training assistance to international partners. She has hands-on experience with project design and management, budgeting, recruitment, and grants management. She is well-schooled in USAID programming and policies has worked with a variety of international donors including World Bank, Exxon, FedEx, and Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science.