Pull up a chair with Stephen Gent

“Pull up a Chair” is a series introducing new department chairs across the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. This time, meet Stephen Gent, chair of the peace, war and defense curriculum.

Tell me about your area of research and what drew you to do this at Carolina? 

Much of my research has focused on the role of third parties in international conflict. This work looks both at how third parties become actively involved in conflicts through military intervention, as well as how they can help manage and resolve conflicts. More recently, my research has expanded to the realm of political economy. I wrote a book called “Market Power Politics” with my colleague, Mark Crescenzi, that investigates how competition over natural resource markets drives the expansionist behavior of countries like Russia and China. We are working on a sequel to this book that examines the market power politics of critical minerals and green energy.

UNC has one of the best political science departments in the country, and I feel fortunate to have been able to spend the past two decades here.

What makes your department special/unique?  

No other university in the country provides an interdisciplinary program quite like it. With our academic faculty, students learn how to study questions of peace and conflict through a variety of social science, historical and humanistic lenses. At the same time, our professors of the practice bring their professional experience in public service, the military and diplomacy into the classroom. This provides UNC-Chapel Hill PWAD students with a special academic experience that they couldn’t find anywhere else.

What’s coming up for PWAD this year that you are excited about? 

We are having Ambassador Jennifer Davis and Admiral Dennis Blair on campus as our Knott Distinguished Visiting Professors this year. It’s particularly exciting to have Ambassador Davis teach a class for PWAD for the first time. She is a “double” Carolina alumna with over two decades of experience as a diplomat in the State Department. I am thrilled that UNC-Chapel Hill students will have the opportunity to engage with these accomplished foreign policy practitioners both inside and outside the classroom.

If you had to choose just one, what’s been the favorite class you’ve taught? What made it special?  

A few years ago, Mark Crescenzi and I co-taught a course-based undergraduate research experience class that we created called “Peace Science Research.” Students came into the class with little or no social science research experience. But over the course of the semester, they worked in small groups to develop their own research project complete with original data analysis that they then presented at a University-wide poster session. It was a rewarding experience to see the students get so excited about doing research. On top of that, it was also a chance to collaborate with a colleague in the classroom, which is not something we often get to do.

Who in your life has inspired you?  

My parents. They encouraged and fostered my lifelong love of learning from an early age, and they instilled in me the importance of education and service. I definitely would not be where I am now without them.

Where is your favorite place on campus?  

Probably Meantime Coffee and the Anne Queen Lounge in the Campus Y. You can’t beat a nice cup of coffee and a chance to do a little work in a space away from “beautiful” Hamilton Hall.

It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon. Where would we find you?  

I’d probably be in a movie theater. I’m a pretty big film buff.

Learn more about Gent’s research.