Kurt Burch has been a fulltime professor of International Relations since 1990, teaching and researching diverse topics in international relations at American University, University of Delaware, and St. Olaf College.  His training, experiences, and interests connect four areas of skill and expertise: 

Concerning international affairs, Burch’s broad research and teaching interests explore international conflict management.  Creative and effective conflict management arises from a comprehensive understanding of the sources and character of the underlying conflicts.  Thus, Burch explores how the changing character and conditions of the global system promote conflict and also open opportunities for particular kinds of conflict management.  More specifically, he examines how the interplay of political, economic, cultural, legal, institutional, and normative factors constitute the global system’s changing characteristics, structure its prominent problems, and frame its troublesome conflicts.  These conditions also shape the types and efficiency of conflict management strategies.  Burch connects these interests -- both theoretically and practically, via teaching, published research, and public talks -- to mediation and conflict management.  For example, Burch’s recent work explores the dispute resolution system of the World Trade Organization. 

Burch has published a book and many articles, and has co-edited a book, on several international issues.  He has presented research lectures in Canada, England, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, and Wales.  He has also traveled professionally or casually in Cambodia, France, Italy, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. 

As a mediator, Burch has completed certified mediation training and has applied to the State of Minnesota as a “qualified neutral” under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice.  He has mediated or co-mediated many disputes since 1999.  He has also taught courses on Mediation, Conflict Management, and Cross-Cultural Negotiation.  From 1999-2000 he was a Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Change at the H.H. Humphrey Center of the University of Minnesota.  From 1998-1999 he was a Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. 

Burch has worked extensively as a writer and editor since 1984.  He has helped write and edit academic, scientific, technical, and educational manuscripts, patent applications and patent grants, and reports to officials in the US Congress, armed forces, and executive branch.  More recently, from 1995-2002 he served as co-editor of the International Political Economy Yearbook and he was recently invited to apply as a co-editor of International Studies Quarterly.  Both IPE Yearbook and ISQ are published under the auspices of the International Studies Association, the foremost professional organization of International Relations scholars. 

As a teacher, Burch was nominated the Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Delaware in 1994.  He has also earned most of the credits necessary to receive a state teaching certificate, has visited classrooms from grades 1-5, 9-12, college and university, and adult continuing education.  He has written several articles on education, learning strategies, and innovative teaching, some now appearing on reading lists at many US and international universities.  He has been invited by universities, a university library, an educational training business, and an information technology corporation to work with them on teaching and training issues. 

Burch earned his BA in International Studies from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, graduating with “High Distinction”.  He earned his MA in International Relations from American University in Washington, DC, earning an award for “Outstanding Scholarship at the Graduate Level”.  In 1991 he graduated with a PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and immediately began teaching at the University of Delaware.  Burch volunteered in the 1980s at the Community for Creative Nonviolence in Washington, DC.  In the 1990s he volunteered with American Friends Service Committee.  In recent years he has served as a volunteer mediator with the St. Paul Center for Dispute Resolution.