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Staff

Michael Tomz

Director- Program in International Relations, Professor- Department of Political Science
Office: Encina Hall 616 Serra Street West Stanford, California 94305-6044
Phone: (650) 725-4031

Michael Tomz is Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Center for International Development and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Tomz has published in the fields of international relations, American politics, comparative politics, and statistical methods. He is the author of Reputation and International Cooperation: Sovereign Debt across Three Centuries and numerous articles in political science and economics journals. Tomz received the International Studies Association’s Karl Deutsch Award, given to a scholar who, within 10 years of earning a Ph.D., has made the most significant contribution to the study of international relations. He has also won the Giovanni Sartori Award for the best book developing or applying qualitative methods; the Jack L. Walker Award for the best article on Political Organizations and Parties; the best paper award from the APSA section on Elections, Public Opinion and Voting Behavior; the best paper award from the APSA section on Experimental Research; and the Okidata Best Research Software Award. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation. In recognition of his teaching, Tomz has received the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Cox Medal for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research at Stanford. He founded and continues to direct the Summer Research College program for undergraduates in Political Science. Tomz holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University; a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Hoover Institution, the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, and the International Monetary Fund.

Christelle Sheldon

Program Manager, Program in International Relations
Phone: (650) 725-0715

Christelle grew up in the Chicago area where she earned her B.A in Political Science from DePaul University- Chicago and her Ed.M. in Global Studies in Education (with a specialization in Educational Policy Studies) from the University of Illinois- Champaign. She has been passionately involved in higher education for the past ten years serving in various capacities and departments in both traditional and Online universities. Christelle joined the Stanford community in July of 2013, serving as the interim Program Coordinator in the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). While at CLAS, Christelle served the students through academic and grant advising, and coordinated the CLAS events, social media, and lecture series. Prior to coming to Stanford University, Christelle worked with an educational start-up company called HotChalk, Inc., which partners with on-ground universities to build and implement online programs and services. At HotChalk, Christelle was the Senior Student Services Advisor and advised students in the Master’s of Education program. She served in a leadership role as the interim Director and worked heavily on devising a system to monitor and assist the “at-risk” student population, as well as creating and implementing policies and S.O.P.s for the Student Services department. Prior to this, Christelle served as an Assistant Director in the Student Records department of DePaul University- Chicago. Her primary role was to manage placement testing and diploma processing. She served on a cross-departmental committee focused on improving the overall experience for incoming students. Christelle enjoys learning about other cultures and completed her master’s degree in Global Studies in Education while studying abroad in Istanbul, Turkey. Since moving to the Bay Area, she and her husband have been eagerly exploring their new surroundings and enjoy attending local festivals, participating in eco-adventures, cycling, and traveling to any destination they can find. Christelle is very excited to be joining the International Relations (IR) team as the Program Manager and looks forward to serving the IR community!