Areas of Expertise
Foreign policy, social justice, human rights, human trafficking, child protection, women’s wellbeing and land rights, international religious freedom

Bio
Dr. Jean Geran is a Foundation Advisor for the Lumen Center. Dr. Geran has extensive experience translating research into practice through her work in the academy, international organizations, think tanks and public service. She has held positions at the US Department of State and the National Security Council (White House) where she worked on an array of social justice issues including human rights, child protection, trafficking in persons, refugee policy, migration, governance, and women’s wellbeing. She was a Diplomacy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from 2001-2003 and has served as a representative of the United States to several bodies of the United Nations and other international organizations. She has appeared on BBC World News and was a regular contributor to Foreign Policy Magazine from 2009 to 2016.

Dr. Geran has experience speaking and teaching on human rights and related issues as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University and as a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

External Appointments

• Instructor, Upper House Fellows Program
• Director for Human Rights, Child Protection and Global Policy, 4W-STREETS, 2014-Present
• Leadership Circle, 4W (Women & Wellbeing in Wisconsin & the World) initiative
• Scientific Committee for the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing and a Culture of Peace
• Affiliated Scholar, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Experience

• Foundation Advisor, The Lumen Center and Upper House, 2023-present
• Senior Fellow, Sagamore Institute, 2013-2017
• Member, Policy Planning Staff, US Department of State, 2006-2008
• Adjunct Professor, George Washington University, 2007
• Director for Democracy and Human Rights, National Security Council, 2004-2005
• Foreign Affairs Officer, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, 2001-2004
• Researcher, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1995
• Research Consultant, The World Bank, 1994

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• Two-Way STREETS: An Anti-Human Trafficking Online Conversation Series. Social Transformations to End Exploitation and Trafficking for Sex (STREETS) Project. 4W Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Policies and Services for Survivors of Sex Trafficking: A Report of the 4W STREETS of Hope Fora at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, July 2015 – September 2018. UNESCO Working Paper Series 004-04-2020. 4W Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Shrinking States, Growing Statelessness. Shadow Government, Foreign Policy Magazine. June 29, 2016

 
Education

• Ph.D., Development Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
• M.S., Resource Development, Michigan State University
• B.S.B.A., Georgetown University

 
Selected Honors/Awards

• Superior Honor Award for Secretarial Initiatives, US Department of State, 2007
• Distinguished Young Alumni Award, University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, 2006
• Superior Honor Award for Service in Iraq, US Department of State, November 2003
• Superior Honor Award for Human Rights Documentation in Burma, US Department of State, December 2003
• Diplomacy Fellowship, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2001-2003
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship – Thai, 1997-2001

Link to CV