Annette LaRocco

Dr. Annette LaRocco is the Dan ’63 and Betty Churchill Associate Professor of Climate Policy and International Affairs at the University of Maine and concurrently serves as Associate Professor and Senior Associate Director of the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program at Florida Atlantic University. Her work bridges political science, African studies, and environmental governance.

Educational background includes:

• PhD from the University of Cambridge (2016)
• Master's degree from the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar
• Bachelor's degree, Summa cum Laude, from Barnard College, Columbia University (double major in Political Science and English)

Her research explores:

• Postcolonial state-building and environmental governance in southern Africa
• Political economy of conservation and land politics
• Climate policy, biodiversity, and gender-environment intersections
• Qualitative methodologies in political science

Publications appear in top journals including Politics and Gender and the Journal of Southern African Studies, alongside her 2024 book on Botswana.

Awards and honors:

• U.S. Fulbright Scholar (2022-2023)
• Clarendon Scholar, University of Oxford
• Summa cum Laude, Columbia University

Prior to academia, she contributed to foreign policy research in Washington, D.C.