Dr. Shannon Blanton
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs

DR. SHANNON LINDSEY BLANTON is the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs at The University of Memphis, where she is also a Professor of Political Science. She oversees all undergraduate programs, chairs the University Undergraduate Council, and provides leadership in strategic planning, academic advising, the Center for International Programs and Services, the Helen Hardin Honors Program, the Fresh Connections Learning Communities, and the ACAD academic success seminars. Since joining The University of Memphis in 1999, she has been a department chair and undergraduate coordinator, and has served nationally as a facilitator for leadership development in higher education.

Dr. Blanton specializes in the areas of international relations and foreign policy, with an emphasis on human rights, democracy, international political economy and the arms trade. Dr. Blanton teaches courses on foreign policy, international conflict, international relations theory and statistics. She has published articles on the determinants of U.S. arms transfers, the impact of arms imports on human security (human rights, democracy, and human development) in developing countries, human rights as a determinant of U.S. foreign aid, and the role of images in U.S. foreign policy decision-making. Her current research examines the role that human rights concerns play in shaping foreign direct investment and trade in the global community. Dr. Blanton has won several research awards as a faculty member at The University of Memphis, and was named in 2007 as the recipient of The University of Memphis' esteemed Alumni Association Distinguished Research in the Social Sciences and Business Award. She has published numerous articles that have appeared in leading academic journals within her discipline, such as the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, Foreign Policy Analysis, and elsewhere, and has served on a number of editorial boards, including those for International Studies Perspectives, International Studies Quarterly, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Interactions. She is also a co-author with Charles W. Kegley of multiple editions of a leading textbook, World Politics: Trend and Transformation.