Susan Shepler

Susan Shepler is a Professor at American University's School of International Service, where she teaches courses on peace and conflict resolution, qualitative research methods, and African studies. With over twenty years of experience conducting ethnographic fieldwork in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, she specializes in understanding local community responses to international interventions in conflict-affected settings.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Social and Cultural Studies in Education, University of California, Berkeley
• MA in Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley
• BA in Mathematics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Susan Shepler's research focuses on the intersection of anthropology, peace studies, and international development in conflict-affected West Africa. Her work examines how local communities engage with international interventions, including reintegration of former child soldiers, teacher training for refugees, transitional justice, and Ebola response. She investigates the micro-politics of gender, age, religious affiliation, and ethnicity in post-conflict settings. Her approach emphasizes ethnographic fieldwork to understand the everyday experiences of people affected by conflict and international interventions.

Her scholarly publications reveal consistent engagement with post-conflict reconstruction in West Africa, particularly Sierra Leone. Over time, her research has evolved from examining child soldier reintegration to broader analyses of post-war society, including education systems, youth culture, and responses to health crises like Ebola. Her work demonstrates an interdisciplinary approach blending anthropology, education, and political science to understand how global interventions interact with local contexts and power dynamics.

Her notable achievements include:

• Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame (2020-2021)
• Visiting Professor at University of Makeni, Sierra Leone (2019-20)
• George Arnhold Professor at the Georg Eckert Institute (2014-2015)
• Fulbright Scholar in Nigeria (2013-2014)
• Winner of INEE's Jackie Kirk Commemorative Competition (2009)
• Gail P. Kelly Award for Outstanding Dissertation (2006)

Professor Shepler has advised numerous students working on research projects related to peace and conflict resolution. Her grant history includes the 'Smartphone Pandemic: Mobile technologies and data in the COVID-19 response (SMARTPREP)' project funded by the Research Council of Norway (2020-2022) and the 'Education, State Fragility, and Armed Conflict in West Africa' grant from the Spencer Foundation (2013-2014). She has consulted extensively with organizations including UNICEF, the International Rescue Committee, Search for Common Ground, Fambul Tok, and Children in Crisis. Her collaborative work extends to the AAA/Wenner-Gren Ebola response team and partnerships with institutions like the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone.