Featured Madisonian

Amanda Sloat, Alumna

Amanda Sloat (PTCD 1997) is a professional staff member on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.   She serves as an advisor to Chairman Howard Berman on Europe, Russia, the Balkans and the Caucasus. She previously worked as a senior program officer with the National Democratic Institute. Focusing on political development in Iraq, she spent half of 2006 in Baghdad assisting members and staff of the Council of Representatives. Prior to joining NDI, Amanda was a post-doctoral research fellow with the Institute of Governance at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Previous to her work at Queen’s University, she served as a specialist advisor to the Scottish Parliament's European Committee during its governance inquiry and to the Northern Ireland Assembly's Committee for Finance and Personnel during its investigation of EU funding. She has participated in international election observation missions in Gaza, Kosovo, and Albania. In addition, Amanda interned with the European Commission team preparing the White Paper on European Governance, a legal think-tank in DC, and Michigan Governor Engler’s public affairs office.

Amanda completed her PhD in Politics at the University of Edinburgh in 2000. Her research, which was published as a book entitled Scotland in Europe: A Study of Multi-Level Governance, focused on the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, its relationship with the European Union and challenges to multi-level governance. She has published numerous journal articles, delivered lectures at academic and practitioner conferences, and taught undergraduate and adult students. Amanda earned her BA in Political Theory from James Madison College and the Honors College. She served as President of the James Madison College Student Senate and is currently a member of the College’s Board of Visitors.