Dr. Jennifer N. Brass is an expert on service provision, governance, and state-society relationships, with a primary geographic focus on Africa. One line of her research focuses on NGOs’ role in service provision. In this line, her award-winning book, Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa (Cambridge University Press), examines the role that nongovernmental organizations play in service provision, state-society relations, and state development in Kenya. A second line of research focuses on electricity as a service. Her current work in this area explores variation in what it means to “have access” to electricity, the citizen experience and effects of gaining access to electricity, and the local, national, and international politics of green transitions.
Dr. Brass teaches courses on NGO Management, International Development, Professional Writing and Presenting, and Client-based Project Implementation. She has recently led MPA Global Capstone trips to Armenia and Ghana, and she has conducted research in Kenya, Uganda, and Djibouti.
Brass holds a Ph.D. and masters in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
