Dr. Sharyl Cross was appointed Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at St. Edward's University in 2013 and served as Director of the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence (2013-2023). She was appointed Global Policy Scholar at the Kennan Institute Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC in 2013 and is currently serving a six-year term as Co-Chair of the Research Committee on Geopolitics for the International Political Science Association (IPSA). From 2005-2013, Dr. Cross was Professor (U.S. Federal Title X GS15 appointment) in the College of International and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany. She was Director of Academics for both the Program in Advanced Security Studies and Senior Executive Seminar, and served in key leadership capacities for the Marshall Center’s strategic outreach engagement initiatives in Russia/Eurasia and South East Europe. Prior to the Marshall Center, Dr. Cross was at the United States Air Force Academy where she had been appointed Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Early in her career, she was awarded tenure as a full Professor at San Jose State University in the California State University system and was Chair of the Department of Political Science.
Professor Cross earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles with concentrations in international relations, comparative politics (Soviet Union/Russia/ Eurasia/Eastern Europe and Latin America regional concentrations), and American foreign and national security policy. While in the UCLA graduate program, she was also a resident fellowship scholar and consultant at the RAND Corporation completing the UCLA and RAND programs in Russian area and policy studies. Originally from Arizona, Dr. Cross graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors in Political Science from the University of Arizona and was selected by her undergraduate professors in Political Science for the University of Arizona Foundation Outstanding Graduating Senior Award for the College of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Her international research/teaching experience includes receiving the U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar Award as Visiting Professor and Senior Research Scholar at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MGIMO) and the Institute of USA and Canada Studies/Russian Academy of Sciences. She also taught in Lille France as Visiting Professor of Transatlantic Security and International Politics at the Institute of Political Studies/Sciences Po. Dr. Cross was Visiting (IPA) Associate Professor of Transregional Studies (Russia/Eurasia and Latin America) at the U.S. Air War College at Maxwell AFB. As a Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Dr. Cross completed additional research and publications on her dissertation topic focused on Soviet/Russian, Cuban policy in Central/Latin America.
Dr. Cross published China, Russia, and Twenty First Century Global Geopolitics coauthored with Paul J. Bolt in 2018, Oxford University Press. Her edited books include Shaping South East Europe’s Security Community: Trust, Partnership, and Integration, Macmillan, New Security Challenges Series (2013), United States, Russia, and China: Confronting Global Terrorism and Security Challenges in the Twenty First Century, Praeger Security International Series (2008) and others. She has published extensively in leading professional peer reviewed journals to include Communist and Post- Communist Studies, Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Asian Security, Journal of Strategic Security, Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Comparative Civilizations Review, Nationalities Papers, Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs, Mediterranean Quarterly, Survey, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Connections (Partnership for Peace/PfP), and others. Dr. Cross has received additional awards in support of her research from NATO-EAPC, U.S. Air Force Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Office of the Secretary of Defense, Kennan Institute/Wilson Center, California State University, American Association for University Women, International Research and Exchanges Board, and University of California, Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation. She has routinely contributed to U.S. and international policy publications such as The Diplomat, World Geostrategic Insights, Aspen Institute Congressional Program, Center for Global Interests-CGI, Wilson Center, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, China Policy Institute Analysis and others. She currently serves on the editorial boards for the peer review Journal of Strategic Security and the Journal of Southeastern Europe.
While residing in Germany, Dr. Cross directed a major multi-country and multi- disciplinary project for the Marshall Center devoted to exploring dimensions of countering violent extremist ideology involving participation of more than 60 nations. She has briefed and consulted for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, United States European Command, U.S. State Department, and U.S. Congress. She was the recipient of the U.S. Army Commander’s Award and Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s (DSCA) Director’s Award issued with approval of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee recognizing her contributions in advancing international security cooperation while at the Marshall Center.
Dr. Cross was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro in 2015 and held previous advisory positions as liaison representative of the Marshall Center for the forum on cyber security at Moscow State University, Lomonosov Institute and on the academic and scientific advisory board for the New Policy Forum sponsored by the Gorbachev Foundation Moscow. In 2026, Dr. Cross was appointed to the steering committee on “Orthodoxy, Politics and International Relations” of the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) facilitating international and interdisciplinary scholarly exchanges within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.
During her appointment as Director of the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence at St. Edward’s University, Dr. Cross led a U.S. Title VI National Resource Program funded project spanning eight years in collaboration with the Centers for European and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin supporting an annual “Transatlantic Security Seminar” bringing together American, European and wider global engagement among academic experts, senior policy officials and diplomats with the university student community in Austin. From 2016-2022, she co-directed the project on the “Religion-Policy Nexus in International Security” with faculty of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University supported by the Public Diplomacy Engagement section of NATO involving collaboration with a consortium of American, European and Eurasian universities and policy centers. Dr. Cross was also appointed to the Executive Boards of Global Austin, Texas-EU Summit and directed the Kozmetsky Center-World Affairs Council Austin “Forum on Global Investment, Finance, Emerging Markets and Geopolitical Risk.”
More recently, she participated in the symposium entitled “Reshuffling Eurasia and the World? The Impact of the War in Ukraine Outside Europe,” sponsored by the Program in History and the Practice of Diplomacy at Princeton University. The collection of articles entitled “Global Order After Ukraine, A Shift in Balance” were published in Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs Summer 2023. In 2023-2024, she was invited to contribute to a project forum and publication initiative sponsored by Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania devoted to assessing the impact of global geopolitical developments on U.S.-Russia-China tripartite cooperation in nuclear security. In February 2026, she led a panel session exploring major power competition, strategic interests and civilizational narratives for the conference entitled “Eurasia Policy Forum: Contemporary Political Myth and Reality,” sponsored by the Clements Center for National Security, LBJ School of Public Affairs and Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Cross recently organized a session in cooperation with World Affairs Council Austin bringing together experts from the policy, mining and geopolitical research analysis communities to explore the significance of Critical Rare Earths/Strategic Minerals Across Regions in Contemporary Geopolitics for students enrolled in her course on Applied Geopolitical Risk.
Dr. Cross has been a frequent contributor to major professional foreign policy forums throughout Europe and Eurasia and has lectured in the United States for the Council on Foreign Relations, World Affairs Council and at several universities and corporations.
Linkedin Profile:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharyl-cross-aa09ab8/ Wilson Center Profile: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/sharyl-cross-2