New Bush School Faculty Member Draws on Her Expertise After Appointment
By Ana Renfroe, Texas A&M University Marketing & Communications
Amy Austin Holmes, an expert in international affairs at Texas A&M’s Bush School in Washington, D.C., has been appointed as a 2024-2025 education ambassador for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), shortly after joining the university as an instructional associate professor.
The CFR is an independent, nonpartisan think tank founded to educate the public about global affairs. Through its competitive ambassador program, the CFR annually recognizes leaders championing global affairs education. This year, the CFR announced 91 higher education ambassadors across the U.S.
Strengthening Foreign Policy Education
As an education ambassador, Holmes can provide free, cutting-edge material from the CFR’s resources on key policy issues to her students.
Before joining the Bush School, Holmes served as a research professor of international affairs and acting director of the Foreign Area Officers Program at the Elliott School of George Washington University. She was tenured and promoted to associate professor at the American University in Cairo in 2015 and has also held visiting scholar positions at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, and taught at the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Outside of academia, Holmes has advised the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, focusing on Iraq and Syria, and worked in the Office of Southern European Affairs.
Holmes said her experience living in Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution inspired her second book, “Coups and Revolutions,” which shaped her understanding of the importance of civil-military relations in transitioning to and upholding democratic forms of governance.
Now Available: Statelet of Survivors
In her latest book, “Statelet of Survivors,” Holmes examines the emergence of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the local partner force of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Based on pioneering ground research, she recounts how the multi-ethnic coalition halted genocide by the Islamic State and established a local leadership. Her research also highlights women’s significant roles in Northeast Syria’s governance and security, offering a potential model for conflict regions globally.
Holmes said her research suggests a timely opportunity for the U.S. and the Global Coalition to re-engage in Syria. She said Russia and Iran have deprioritized support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, due to ongoing conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and Iranian proxies responding to the Hamas attacks.
“The fact that Russia and Iran are distracted from Syria is an opportunity for the U.S. and the 85 countries and partners of the Global Coalition to reprioritize our efforts to find a solution to the Syrian conflict,” Holmes said. “The members of the Global Coalition, which includes about one-third of all the countries in the world, are looking to the U.S. for leadership.”
The first chapter of “Statelet of Survivors” is free to read from Oxford University Press until Oct. 31.
Advancing Foreign Policy Education, One Class at a Time
In August, Holmes began her tenure at Texas A&M University in Washington, D.C. “I’m thrilled to be at the Bush School,” Holmes said. “Everyone has been very welcoming, and it’s great to be part of an institution that is bringing the Aggie spirit to D.C.”
Holmes is currently teaching courses on American Foreign Policy and Disinformation from World War One until the Present. Soon, she wants to expand her curriculum to include Conflict Resolution, analyzing how trade and economic investment could help end conflicts and reduce violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“Globally, the number of peace agreements that have been signed has been on the decline,” Holmes said. “To achieve a more peaceful and prosperous world, we need to reverse that trend, and I believe we at the Bush School could play a small role in that happening.”
