Siena College

Loudonville / Albany, New York

Dr. vera eccarius-kelly

Vera Eccarius-Kelly is professor of comparative politics in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Siena College. She teaches courses on social movements, comparative politics, and empowerment of women and minorities in Latin American and the Middle East. Her research interests include ethno-national, cultural and political dissent within Kurdish diaspora movements and popular transnational activism in Latin American indigenous communities. She earned a M.A.L.D. (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy) and a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston (2002). 

Eccarius-Kelly is the ACE Scholar in Residence and serves as the Faculty Chair of the Fair Trade and Social Justice Committee. Eccarius-Kelly regularly takes students to Guatemala to familiarize them with women’s development models in indigenous communities and trains students in ethnographic interviewing methodologies. In the Albany area, she collaborates with The Legal Project and serves as an expert witness for asylum cases in immigration court. She is a board member of Mayan Hands (and its sister organization Atuka in Guatemala City), which are nonprofit organizations dedicated to empowering Mayan women artisans. As part of her regional community outreach, Eccarius-Kelly regularly participates in WAMC Radio’s Roundtable, a northeast regional affiliate of NPR. Eccarius-Kelly recently completed an edited volume on Kurdish Autonomy and U.S. Foreign Policy (expected publication summer 2019) and a forthcoming book chapter“Do I Even Exist?’ Kurdish Diaspora Artists Reflect on Imaginary Exhibits in a Kurdistan Museum.”

Faculty Fellow Role

Faculty Mentoring will be led by the ACE Scholar in Residence, Dr. Vera Eccarius-Kelly, who will focus over the next few years on faculty needs. She will do this by integrating a group of scholars into the practices of engaged scholarship. This effort will require a shift in our academic culture to become more open to community engaged research and publications. For such an effort to succeed, faculty members must be at the center of all conversations to grapple fully with the complexities of interdisciplinary work. It is clear that departmental nuances, norms, and academic cultures have to be carefully considered and that faculty whose circumstances and aspirations align with the ACE office could be selected for special mentoring programs.