ABOUT JAMES

James Ron holds the Harold Stassen Chair for International Affairs at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs & Department of Political Science, and is also affiliated with Mexico's Centre for Economic Research & Teaching (CIDE) and Israel's Ben Gurion University. 

James has worked for the Associated Press in Jerusalem; conducted field research for Human Rights Watch in Palestine, Nigeria, Turkey, the Albanian-Kosovo border, the Ingush-Chechen border, and Kyrgyzstan; consulted for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and the former Yugoslavia; and for CARE on its work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

 

While teaching in Canada (2001-2011), James did applied research with support from the Canadian foreign ministry and its international development agencies. 

 

Since 2010, James has donated his time to the International Diabetes Federation's Life for a Child Program. He is a member of their advisory board, and has helped out with their work on behalf of children with diabetes in India, Mexico, and Morocco.  James' son, Sacha, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2009. Now, James blogs about his experiences as a "diabetes dad" at the diabetes e-zine, ASweetLife.org.  

In 1998, James was married to Emma Naughton, a Canadian development professional whom he met in Palestine. Together, they have two children, Tessa and Sacha, and a black Labrador retriever, Molly. They live together in Minneapolis, Minnesota.