After arriving at The University of Scranton in 2006, Mike Allison is now associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science. He also directs the University’s Education for Justice program. He grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York and attended the Jesuit-run Regis High School in New York City. He graduated with a BA in Politics and minors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Peace Justice Studies from Fairfield University in Connecticut (1996). He received his Masters (2001) and Doctorate (2006) in Political Science from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.
Dr. Allison’s teaching and research interests concern the comparative study of civil war and civil war resolution, particularly as it relates to the transition of rebel groups to political parties in Central and South America.
He was a student Fulbright Scholar to El Salvador (1997). He also was awarded a Faculty Fulbright Scholarship to Guatemala (2013) during which he researched the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit and its transition to political party as well as United States – Central American relations in the post-Cold War period.
He maintains a blog on Central American politics and regularly writes opinion and analysis for Al Jazeera English, the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin American Advisor, and World Politics Review. He was been a consultant on Freedom House’s Freedom in the World reports for Central America from 2011 to 2016.
He lives with his wife and four children in South Abington Township.