Rate My Professor John Stack

John Stack served as Professor of Political Science and Law at Florida International University College of Law, holding a joint appointment as Professor of Politics and International Relations and Law. He earned an A.B. with highest honors from Stonehill College in 1972, an M.A. in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1977 from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1989. Stack joined Florida International University in 1976 as an instructor in the Department of Political Science, advancing through the ranks to assistant professor (1978-1981), associate professor (1981-1986), and professor (1987-2009, thereafter in Politics and International Relations). He chaired the Department of Political Science twice, from 1981-1987 and 1996-1999. As founding director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies from 1995 to 2008, he advanced research on U.S.-Latin American relations. Stack was a founding faculty member of the College of Law in 2002, executive director of the College of Law Initiative in 2000-2001, and instrumental in its establishment. From 2008 to 2021, he was founding dean of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, overseeing eight departments including Politics and International Relations, Public Policy and Administration, and Economics, as well as 20 centers and programs such as the Jack D. Gordon Institute and the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center.

Stack's academic interests encompassed ethnicity and world politics, administrative law, national security, and constitutional law. He authored or co-authored books including Globalization: Debunking the Myths, 3rd edition (2017, with Lui Hebron), International Conflict in an American City: Boston's Irish, Italians, and Jews 1935-1944 (1979), and The Ethnic Entanglement: Conflict and Intervention in World Politics (1999, with Lui Hebron). He edited or co-edited works such as The Primordial Challenge: Ethnicity in the Modern World (1986), Courts and Terror: Nine Nations Balance Rights and Security (2011, with Mary L. Volcansek), and Courts Crossing Borders: Blurring the Lines of Sovereignty (2005, with Mary L. Volcansek). His contributions earned the Top Scholar Award (2009), Torch Award from the Florida International Alumni Association (2002), Professorial Excellence Program Award (1999), University Teaching Award (1993), and Doctor of Humane Letters from Stonehill College (2018). Stack mentored thousands of students over five decades, elevating FIU's Model United Nations team to top national rankings, including No. 1 public university in 2019. He passed away on June 23, 2022.