A Global Network - Associate Professor Stephanie Anderson
University of Wyoming Department of Political Science Associate Professor Stephanie Anderson’s ties to Wyoming and the university go back decades. “My family has owned a cattle ranch in the Little Snake River Valley in Savery, Wyo., since the 1870s,” she says.
Around the world and back: Anderson grew up mainly in New York City, with summers spent at the family ranch in Wyoming. Her father always encouraged her to travel, and she earned her bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, her master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.
Anderson spent a year abroad as an undergraduate and since then has spent an additional seven years overseas, including two Fulbright awards—one that took her to Germany and the other to South Korea. Next year, she’ll be in Switzerland on a semester-long fellowship, where she’ll work on her third book, which focuses on the way the European Union portrays itself to different audiences.
Anderson also serves as the associate director for the UW Center for Global Studies: “We work to get funding to send students and faculty overseas to internationalize their research. By doing this, they internationalize the course curriculum across campus.”
Professors conducting international research broaden their network and, in turn, their students’ network. “Every time I go overseas, I can create opportunities for internships, study abroad and even jobs for my students,” Anderson says. “That’s why I’m so passionate about the Center for Global Studies. We offer opportunities for faculty members to go places they haven’t gone before. I think that directly impacts our students and what they can do.”
Bringing it home: Anderson taught at Bentley University and Dickinson College but always hoped to teach at UW. Coming back to run the family ranch eventually led to that opportunity for both Anderson and her husband, Tom Seitz, who is an associate professor in Global and Area Studies.
“This is the only place we ever wanted to work,” she says. “We have students from all over the world … such a vibrant campus life.”
Anderson says that the only thing some Wyoming students lack is confidence. “Many of our students have won Marshall, Rhodes, Gates and Fulbright scholarships, and I push them to apply,” she says. “I want them to see how great they really are.
“I can tell you that our best students can compete with Harvard’s best students. There’s no question.”
