ABOUT ME
I am Associate Professor of Politics and Policy at Simmons University in Boston. I teach graduate classes in the Master in Public Policy (MPP) program, as well as undergraduate classes in the fields of international relations and comparative politics. I am also the Reviews Editor of New Political Science.
Prior to coming to Simmons, I was associate professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Northern Colorado. There, I chaired the college’s Committee on Policies and Procedures, served on the Faculty Senate, and represented the university to Colorado’s higher education faculty advisory board. In 2018, I co-moderated a gubernatorial debate. In 2022, I, with colleagues, held a summer institute on congressional redistricting at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maine with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. As a Maine Policy Scholar, I studied the state's clean election law. I also served as vice president of the Maine Outing Club. I then earned my doctorate at the University of Connecticut. I was a graduate fellow at UConn's Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) and at the Connecticut General Assembly.
My book is Contesting the Global Order: The Radical Political Economy of Perry Anderson and Immanuel Wallerstein (State University of New York Press, 2020. Series on New Political Science). It is an American Library Association Outstanding Academic Title.
My other writings have appeared in journals such as American Political Thought, International Politics, and Social Movement Studies. I have also written essays for Jacobin and Monthly Review.
My recent paper on foreign relations, "A Critique of Deep Engagement, the Social Narrative of U.S. Foreign Policy," won the Northeastern Political Science Association's Pi Sigma Alpha Best Paper award.
I grew up in Maine, sailing and hiking in the summer and ski racing in the winter. My favorite ski areas are Arapahoe Basin and Sugarloaf. I love taking pictures, too, and have posted some of my better ones throughout the site. (Except for those in which I appear, all photos are my own.)
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EDUCATION
May 2015
University of Connecticut
Ph.D., Political Science
Committee: Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh, Shareen Hertel, David L. Richards, with Mark A. Boyer and Charles R. Venator Santiago.
August 2014
University of Connecticut
Graduate Certificate, Global Governance
May 2007
University of Connecticut
M.A., Political Science
May 2004
University of Maine
B.A., Political Science
RESEARCH INTERESTS
• Intellectual traditions of international political economy (IPE)
• International relations (IR) and global governance, especially American hegemony and world order
• Comparative democratization, development, and social movements
• Contemporary American political thought, Cold War to present
CONTACT INFORMATION
Department of Politics and Policy
Simmons University
Office:
C-330M
Tel. (Six-one-seven) 521-2494
gregory.williams [at] simmons.edu
Mail:
C-330M
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115