Photo by Justin Fox Burks

Professor Sciubba′sCV

TEACHING:

Each semester I teach the introductory course to the International Studies major, IS100, and courses that contribute to both the International Studies curriculum and to the Environmental Studies program (http://www.rhodes.edu/ess). In Intro to International Relations, we explore the forces that shaped the world students were born into and what changes over the last couple of decades shaped the world we live in today. My Global Ecopolitics course explores how environmental issues, population trends, disease, technology, and globalization create solutions and problems for traditional questions of international relations—like war and peace, sovereignty, development, and power—and raise new areas of inquiry. I also offer a companion comparative version that examines the politics of the environment within nation-states, asking how different countries and communities end up with different approaches to the same environmental and population problems.  In my population and national security course, students gain an understanding of population trends, their security implications, and their connections to issues such as development and the environment.

RESEARCH:

My research generally examines the political implications of demographic trends. One strand of my research explores the national security implications of population trends in fertility, mortality, and migration. My first book, The Future Faces of War: Population and National Security, will be released by Praeger/ABC-CLIO in 2010. My article, “The Defense Implications of Demographic Trends,” received the 2009 Kiley Award for best feature from the National Defense University Foundation.
The other strand of my research focuses on the political-economy implications of population aging.  My dissertation, “The Politics of Population Aging in Germany, Italy, and Japan,” which I have been revising, argued that fears of gerontocracy from population aging ignore two important factors: the particularities of political institutions and the politics of aging surrounding labor issues.  The first publication will be in a forthcoming volume titled Generational Politics and Policies: Comparative Studies of Ageing Postindustrial Democracies and edited by Pieter Vanhuysse (European Centre, Vienna) and Achim Goerres (University of Cologne).
My academic career has been enhanced by my policy experience as demographics consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy). Though I loved living and working in the Washington, DC area, the music, food, and community of downtown Memphis are the best I’ve found.

COMMUNITY

I am happy to serve as the advisor to Sigma Iota Rho, our chapter of the International Studies Honor Society, and to Green Rhodes, our student environmental group. I am also a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Rhodes. I serve on the Alumnae Board of Agnes Scott College and the Grants Committee of the Women′s Foundation for a Greater Memphis.