Barry S. Levitt

Barry S. Levitt serves as Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University (FIU). He directs a National Science Foundation-funded project on disaster policy in the Americas and has held roles such as Academic Director of FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, a Fellow at the Extreme Events Institute, and Co-Director of Latin American Studies at Emory University. His research focuses on political culture, institutions, and disaster policy in Latin America and emerging democracies.

Levitt holds a BA from McGill University (1992), an MA from York University (1995), and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2002), all in Political Science. His work includes the book *Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties, and Legislatures in Peru and Beyond* (2012) and articles in journals like *Latin American Politics and Society* and *Nationalism and Ethnic Politics*.

He leads academic programs, teaches courses on comparative politics and Latin America, and recently co-edited a symposium on personalist parties for *Politics & Policy*. His current book project examines citizens’ trust in Latin American institutions. His NSF-funded collaborative research (2020-23) evaluates disaster risk reduction policies in the Americas, with findings published in *Natural Hazards Review* (ASCE).

• Awards: NSF funding ($500k+), EEI Fellowship (2019-2021).
• Grants: NSF disaster policy project (2020-23).
• Labs/Teams: Extreme Events Institute, Latin American and Caribbean Center.