Suzanna Reiss

Suzanna Reiss is an Associate Professor and serves as Graduate Chair & Associate Department Chair in the Department of History at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research focuses on U.S. foreign relations, imperialism, capitalism, and world history, with particular emphasis on Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. She holds a BA from New York University (1996), an MA from the University of Toronto (1998), and an MA and PhD from New York University (2001 and 2005).

Her work examines the political economy of U.S. expansion, Cold War and anti-colonial politics, and the intersection of legality, criminality, and state power. Notable publications include We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of US Empire (2014), which traces the role of drug control in U.S. imperialism. She was a 2009–2010 Warren Center Fellow at Harvard University.

Reiss teaches courses on U.S. foreign relations, American empire, Cold War history, and race and incarceration. Her research bridges global and transnational frameworks, emphasizing how economic systems and state policies shape power dynamics in the modern world.

Her awards include the Charles Warren Center Fellowship, granting her access to interdisciplinary historical research networks. She actively contributes to academic initiatives such as the Bentley World History Funds and History Forum at her institution.