NCAFP Senior Vice President, On Leave
Currently on leave from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Pham is tenured as Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Political Science and Africana Studies and served as Director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He is also non‐resident Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. Dr. Pham has been part of the adjunct faculty of the Foreign Service Institute, the Joint Special Operations University, the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management, and other U.S. Government professional education institutions, as well as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Infrastructure and Information Assurance, a National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence.
A specialist on U.S. foreign and defense policy, African politics and security, and terrorism and political violence, Dr. Pham is the author of over three hundred essays and reviews and appeared in various media outlets, including CBS, PBS, CBC, SABC, VOA, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the BBC, Radio France Internationale, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, The Sunday Times, Le Monde, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The Weekly Standard, New Statesman, and Maclean’s.
Dr. Pham has testified before the U.S. Congress on a number of occasions and conducted briefings or consulted for U.S. and foreign governments as well as private firms. In 2005, he served as member of the U.S. Agency for International Development‐funded International Republican Institute (IRI) delegation monitoring the national elections in Liberia. He also served on the IRI pre‐election assessment (2006) and election observation (2007) delegations to Nigeria, as well as the IRI election observation mission in Somaliland (2010). In May 2008, at the invitation of General William E. “Kip” Ward, he gave the keynote address at the first Senior Leaders Conference of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Mainz, Germany.
Dr. Pham is the incumbent Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). He is also Editor‐in‐Chief of ASMEA’s flagship Journal of the Middle East and Africa. Dr. Pham was the winner of the 2008 Nelson Mandela International Prize for African Security and Development presented by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defense and Security Studies, the Brenthurst Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
In February 2010, the Governor of Virginia awarded him the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia’s 2010 Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth’s highest honor for faculty at its public and private colleges and universities for superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service. He is also a recipient of the James Madison University 2010 Provost Award for Excellence for extraordinary contributions to the university.