Rate My Professor Leona Pallansch

Leona Pallansch, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Political Science at St. Mary's University of San Antonio, where she has maintained a long tenure. She most recently acted as Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and currently holds the position of Director of Pre-Law. Pallansch obtained her B.A. in Government and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, her M.A. in Government and Foreign Affairs from Georgetown University, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill following a dissertation on the relationship between U.S. foreign assistance and alignment behavior of recipient governments. Her research applies quantitative analyses to political behavior in international and local contexts. Notable publications include “Problem Behaviors of Children Adopted from the Former Soviet Union,” co-authored with Teena McGuinness in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care (2007), and a follow-up in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing (2015) with additional co-authors. Other significant works feature conference presentations such as “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, But Will It Be Tweeted? Social Media, Civil Society, and the Arab Spring” with Sandra Nannini (2014), “The Militarization of Development: Microloans as Counterinsurgency” with Nannini and Michael Donnelly (2011), and “Learning from the South: The Promise and Perils of Microlending in the US” with Nannini (2010).

Pallansch teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including international relations theory, international political economy, research methodology, ethical issues in international relations, and gender and international relations. She has guided student research projects on topics like capital punishment as a homicide deterrent, civic engagement classes' impact on attitudes, Battered Women’s Shelter services, San Antonio’s public park system, and local employers’ views on immigrants. Additionally, she has joined study abroad programs to Spain, the UK, Austria, and the Southern Cone, and engaged in faculty development in the Middle East, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Bangladesh. Pallansch contributes to internationalization efforts, civic engagement, and neighborhood revitalization at the university. She plans to retire at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year.