Courtney Irene Powell Thomas

Courtney Irene Powell Thomas, Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies, Collegiate Assistant Professor

Portrait of Courtney Thomas — Courtney Thomas, acting director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Political Science and a collegiate assistant professor

_{Department of Political Science

527A Major Williams Hall (0130)

220 Stanger Street

Blacksburg, VA 24061

540-231-2855 | copowell@vt.edu}

Courtney Irene Powell Thomas, a collegiate assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech, focuses her research on food politics. She is currently working on a study of hunger in America as well as an investigation of the linkages between the international chocolate trade and genocide in the Ivory Coast.

Dr. Thomas is working on a book-length project on the politics of food labeling in the United States. She has presented her research at conferences in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Salzburg, Austria; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, DC; Urbana, Illinois; and Austin, Texas.

Principal Areas of Research Focus

Dr. Thomas currently teaches undergraduate courses in world politics, international political economy, and nations and nationalities.

Education

PhD in Planning, Governance, and Globalization, Virginia Tech
MA in Political Science, Virginia Tech

Professional Roles

Internship Coordinator, Department of Political Science
Coordinator, Hokies on the Hill Program

Publications

Books

Dr. Thomas’s publications include: In Food We Trust, University of Nebraska Press, 2014; Voices of Hunger (ed.), Common Ground Publishing, 2014; Political Culture and the Making of Modern Nation States, Paradigm Press, 2014; International Political Economy: Navigating the Logic Streams, an Introduction (coauthored with Edward Weisband), Kendall Hunt, 2010; “The Biocorporeality of Evil: A Taxonomy” (coauthored with Edward Weisband) in Inside & Outside of the Law: Perspectives on Evil, Law, and the State (Shubhankar Dam and Jonathan Hall, eds.), Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2009; and “Big Blocks of Cheese and Other Lessons on American Government: 15 Weeks in the West Wing” (coauthored with Sandra E. Via) in Teaching Matters: Strategy and Tactics to Engage Students in the Study of American Politics (Daniel Shea, ed.), Prentice Hall, 2010.

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