Maria Boikova Struble
Assistant Professor of Politics and Government
B.A., Louisiana State University; M.A., Arizona State University; Ph.D., Lancaster University.
Email: mstruble@western.edu
Phone: (970) 943-3024
Office: Kelley Hall 204
My mission at Western: to nurture and support students as they engage with difficult political questions; to encourage them to explore, be critical and ask questions of everything and everyone in the world; to support their creativity and make it possible for them to share it with others; to become a better instructor by learning to listen, reflect and communicate better with students; to challenge my students to think about questions such as human rights, refugees, migration and power from the positions of global citizens, not simply as passive observers; to strengthen the political science program by offering relative instruction, positive classroom environment and opportunities for field experience.
Classes taught at Western
Pols 117 – Introduction to Political Ideologies (two sections)
Pols 250 - Politics of the Environment
Pols 255 - Introduction to Comparative Politics
Pols 260 – Introduction to World Politics
Pols 309 – Ancient to Early Modern Political Theory
Pols 355 - Politics of Development
Pols 360 – American Foreign Policy
Pols 487 - Senior seminar in International Relations
Research Interests
- Refugees, displacement and migration
- International human rights
- Testimony, language and bearing witness
- The sovereign state and globalization
- Environmental degradation and violence
- Critical theories of International Relations
About me
Background
- Nationality: Bulgarian
- I have lived and studied in Bulgaria, France, the United States and Great Britain
- I speak Bulgarian, English, and French
- Favorite cuisine: Indian
- Favorite book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- Favorite authors: Milan Kundera, Anna Akhmatova, Paul Celan and Terry Pratchett
Personal interests
- Mountaineering
- Knitting
- Gardening
- Traveling
- Poetry (writing)
- Hiking
