Claudena Skran is Professor of Government and the Edwin and Ruth West Professor of Economics and Social Science, and Chair of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship program.
My teaching focuses on international politics, social entrepreneurship, international organizations (including both the UN and NGOs), and global issues such as refugees, gender, health, and sustainable development. I have also guided many students through senior projects, especially using qualitative research methods.
I have published widely on the topics of refugees, refugee entrepreneurship, humanitarian assistance, and refugee law. My book, Refugees in Interwar Europe: The Emergence of a Regime (Oxford University Press: 1995) focused on the early phase of the international refugee regime. I have recently coedited a special issue of the Journal of Refugee Studies, ‘Rethinking Refugee Self-Reliance,’ Vol. 33, No. 1, 2020, and authored an article on the sustainability of refugee enterprises in Sierra Leone.
As the founder of KidsGive, a scholarship program for children in Sierra Leone affiliated with Lawrence University, I work with a diverse team of students, alums, and friends to translate their desire for social change into positive action.
One of my passions is learning through meaningful travel. I have guided over 20 different groups in “travelling classrooms” to places as diverse as China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom. I particularly enjoy teaching undergraduates about community engaged research in a global setting.
