Denis Sullivan

Denis Sullivan is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Northeastern University, serving as PhD Graduate Program Director. He holds affiliations with the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Department of Political Science, and the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures. His research focuses on Middle Eastern politics, specifically Egypt, civil society dynamics, Islamism, and transnational crises in Syria and Yemen. He founded Northeastern’s Dialogue of Civilizations Program and the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies (BCARS).

Education: PhD in Political Science (Comparative Politics) from the University of Michigan (1987). Key grants include Carnegie Corporation projects on citizenship in the Arab region (2018–2022) and Syrian/Balkan crisis policy development (2016–2018). He received the 2011 IIE Andrew Heiskell Award for his Dialogue of Civilizations initiative.

Research emphasizes citizenship transformation in the Arab world, refugee crises, and U.S.-Middle East security-economics relations. His work bridges academic analysis with policy advocacy through programs like the Model EU and Belgrade Summer School collaborations.