Dr. Patrick McNamara
- Academic Director
Additional Information
Dr. McNamara serves as Director of the International Studies Program. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His dissertation research, funded by a fellowship from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, focused on public-private partnerships. He earned a M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University, and a B.A. in Religion from Swarthmore College where he studied ethics and comparative religions.
Dr. McNamara teaches in the areas of conflict resolution and negotiation, sustainable development, sustainable development, social entrepreneurship, and civic leadership. He is Faculty Advisor for Sustained Dialogue Initiative.
He has consulted with over 300 organizations from multi-national corporations to small nonprofits, from universities to government agencies and from start-ups to international foundations. Previous jobs include working at a Wall Street law firm, managing an ink manufacturing company, investigating complaints in an ombudsman's office, and Congressional Page in the U.S. House of Representatives. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he has presented workshops and consulted in the U.S., South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, and the U.K.
Dr. McNamara's expertise is in facilitating multi-party stakeholder processes with a growing focus on the intersection between public policy and natural resources management. He has been a scholar-in-residence at the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka. As a participant in the 2013 Water Leaders Academy, which trains the next generation of water experts, he focused on citizen engagement in state water planning processes. He currently works on a U.S. Institute of Peace grant funded team where he designs and facilitates Scientist Research Exchange Forums - in Kabul, Dushanbe, and Islamabad - on Transboundary Water Cooperation between Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.
Dr. McNamara serves as Executive Vice Chairman of the Borad for Initiatives of Change - USA, part of an international interfaith nongovernmental network which is "building trust across the world's divides." He served for five years as Director of Philanthropic Services at the Omaha Community Foundation overseeing grant programs, advising donors on their philanthropic investments, and launching the Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative. For five years before that, he directed the Omaha Hate Crimes Project, which was a partnership between the City of Omaha, community groups and law enforcement, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.