Dr. Thierno Thiam currently serves as Provost and Chief Academic Officer and Duke Endowed Professor of Political Science at ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½.
He joined ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ on January 3, 2023 as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Duke Endowed Professor of Political Science. Prior to that, he joined Tuskegee University on December 13, 2010 from the Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE) based in Washington D.C. The ISE blends conceptual thought, analysis and direct experience to rethink relations between citizens, states and markets in the globalized world. At the Institute for State Effectiveness, Dr. Thiam was in charge of the report that detailed Rwanda’s institutional transformation. At Tuskegee University, he served in many capacities including as Special Advisor to two Tuskegee University Presidents, as a Full Tenured Professor, and as Chair of the Department of History and Political Science.
Dr. Thiam’s work has been featured in various outlets including the Palgrave MacMillan’s Speakers Series, Springer Nature, the Council on Foreign Relations, the United Nations as well as various U.S. and International News outlets. Additionally, he has lectured extensively across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. He is the author of three books and variety of articles.
Dr. Thiam’s academic activities span across several major universities, including Howard University, where he taught the Graduate Seminar in Comparative Politics, the University of Maryland — College Park, where he taught the Politics of Africa, and Purdue University, where he taught courses in International Relations. At Tuskegee University, Dr. Thiam’s courses include International Relations, International Organizations, and Comparative Government at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In 2021, Dr. Thiam was selected by C-SPAN to be a part of a group of scholars charged with the mission to evaluate the leadership effectiveness of the past 45 U. S. presidents. This work constitutes a reference for presidential effectiveness studies and continues to be widely cited by the press.
In 2024, Dr. Thiam was invited to take part in a high level panel at the United Nations on Economic Empowerment of Women of African Descent in the Struggle for Climate Justice.
Dr. Thiam received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from the University of Dakar. He also received a master’s and a doctorate degree in Political Science respectively from Eastern Illinois University and Purdue University.
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