Name: Jennifer Disney
Professor & Chair, Department of Political Science, Philosophy, Religion & Legal Studies;
Director, Model United Nations Program, Director, Women's and Gender Studies Program
Education: Ph.D. with Distinction, The Graduate School & University Center of The City University
of New York (CUNY)
M.A., CUNY Graduate Center
M.Phil., CUNY Graduate Center
B.A., Western Maryland College
Office: 328 Bancroft Hall
Phone: 803/323-4668
E-mail: disneyj@winthrop.edu
Area(s): Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Theory, African Politics, Latin
American Politics, Women and Politics, Feminist Theory, Global Women's Movements
Dr. Jennifer Leigh Disney completed her Ph.D. with distinction at The Graduate School
and University Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) in 2002. Her dissertation,
"The Theories and Practices of Women’s Organizing: Marxism, Feminism, Democratization,
and Civil Society in Mozambique and Nicaragua," was awarded the American Political
Science Association (APSA) Women and Politics Best Dissertation Award in 2003, and
a paper based on two chapters of her dissertation was awarded the Christian Bay Award
for the Best New Political Science Paper presented at the APSA that same year. Disney’s
book, Women’s Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua, was published by Temple University Press in hardback in 2008 and in paperback in
2010.
Dr. Disney serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Director
of the Model United Nations Program, and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies
Program. Disney served as the founding director of the Office of Nationally Competitive
Awards (ONCA) from 2006-2012. At Winthrop University, Disney has been the recipient
of numerous awards, including the 2006 Faculty Service-Learning Award, the 2007 Outstanding
Junior Professor Award, the 2008 Student Life Award, the 2014 DSU “Make the World
A Better Place Award,” the 2024 Lynn Harand College of Arts & Sciences Advising Award,
and the Gale N. DiGiorgio Woman of Distinction Award in 2017 and 2024. In 2016, she
was recognized with two external awards from her alma maters: the Professional Alumni
Achievement Award, McDaniel College (Western Maryland College) and the Distinguished
Alumni Award from the Ph.D. Program in Political Science at the The Graduate School
and University Center of The City University of New York.
From 2014-2018, Dr. Disney served as co-editor of New Political Science: A Journal of Politics and Culture. New Political Science is the official journal of the Caucus for a Critical Political Science (CCPS), an Organized Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). Her areas of teaching, research, and scholarship are in the fields of comparative politics and feminist theory, specifically in the areas of development and underdevelopment, intersectional feminisms, and global women’s movements. She teaches courses in Comparative Politics, Model UN, African Politics, Latin American Politics, Women and Global Politics, International Political Economy, Social Movement Politics and Political Protest, Political Science Capstone, Women's and Gender Studies.