Melanie Kent

Melanie lived in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Laos for 13 years as the child of community development specialists. She experienced communist and democratic governmental systems, rural villages and a burgeoning Asian capital, and Christian, Buddhist, Orthodox, and other African religious contexts. She also worked on an agricultural demonstration farm and taught English as a second language.

Melanie received a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Georgia, studied abroad at Oxford University, and minored in African Studies and Arabic. She was inspired to work in policy when she interned with UGA’s Center for International Trade and Security, where she interacted with government officials from around the world, studied nuclear policy, and researched national legal-regulatory frameworks for nonproliferation and strategic trade controls in Kenya and India.

She is excited to explore the complex transnational security challenges facing East Africa through the African Studies MA. Her research focuses on the cultural and historical background to these issues.