Chiedo Nwankwor

Chiedo Nwankwor is the Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs and a Senior Lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC. Nwankwor's research and teaching focus on gender studies, the role of identities in African politics, women's political participation and leadership, policymaking for gender justice, and economic development in Africa. Within women and gender studies, her research and teaching interests include ministerial-level politics in Africa, women's health and health policy, feminist international relations, and the political economy of gender in Africa. She is interested in how identities shape political and social outcomes, especially for populations living at the state's margins. Nwankwor is also the Director of the SAIS Women Lead Initiative (SWL) and supervises the SAIS Women Lead Practicum. In this role, she facilitates collaboration with SAIS Women's Alumni Network (SWAN) and Global Women in Leadership to co-sponsor programming, strengthens alumni mentoring activities affiliated with SWL, and advises students.

She has published her work in the Social Politics Journal, Studia Politica, Democracy in Africa and other media publishing outlets like the Washington Post and Premium Times Nigeria. Nwankwor also co-edited a book on the Nigerian National Assembly and has written several book chapters, including "Transformations and Continuities: Women's Political Participation in Nigeria' in the Global Handbook of Women's Political Rights and "Women's Struggle for Independence" in the Oxford Handbook for Nigerian Politics.

Nwankwor holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Delaware, an MA in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Delaware, and an MSc in Mass Communications and Public Relations from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She is a Senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a fellow at the Center for Democracy and Development in Nigeria. She has consulted for the World Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Premium Times Nigeria, the IFC, Co-Impact, WOREC, Women Deliver and others on gender justice matters, women's political participation, and development. Before joining academia, Dr. Nwankwor worked in the corporate and non-governmental sectors for several years.